E
459
535
CD
O
CD
CM
O
INDEX
The Constitution of the United States (1787) Was a Compact
Between Sovereign States and Not Perpetual
Nor National.
AUTHORITY :
Page
Elliott's Debates, Vol. V, p. 214 1
Daniel Webster, "The Federalist," p. 908
Daniel Webster, Capon Springs Speech, 1851_. 1
Daniel Webster, U. S. Senate; Feb. 15, 3,'833 _1 1, 2
Henry Cabot Lodge 1 1
Commentaries on the Constitution, Vol. III., p. 287 2
Alexander Hamilton, Commentaries on the Constitution,
Vol. III., p. 287 2
James Wilson, Commentaries on the Constitution, Vol. III.,
p. 287 2
Gouveneur Morris, Commentaries on the Constitution, Vol.
III., p. 287 2
Roger Sherman, Commentaries on the Constitution, Vol.
III., p. 287 2
Oliver Ellsworth, Commentaries on the Constitution, Vol.
III., p. 287 2
Alexander Hamilton, "The Federalist," LX 2
Benjamin Franklin, "Franklin's Works" _• 2
Judge Story, Vol. V., p. 409 2
George Bancroft, "History of the United States" 2, 3
James Buchanan, "Messages and State Papers'' 2
Charles Francis Adams, "Constitutional Ethics of Secession'' 2
William Rawle 1 - . .{£
Lord Brougham 3
II.
Secession Was Not Rebellion.
AUTHORITY:
Dr. Henry Wade Rogers, Dean of the Law Department of
Yale 3
William Rawle, Author "View of the Constitution,''
pp. 289, 290 , ._ 3
Wm. Brooks Rawle, "Sectional Misunderstandings," p. 9 3
Benjamin T. Wade, U. S. Senate, 1858 _„_ 4
Groldwin Smith, Historian, Cornell University 4
Jeremiah Black of Pennsylvania, "Black's Essays" 4
Horace Greeley, "American Conflict," Vol. I., p. 35^ 4
Horace Greeley, "New York Tribune" 4
1
416816
Page
Abraham Lincoln 4
Benjamin J. Williams, "Died For Their State" ..__ 5
Hallam's "Constitutional History of England/' Vol. TT,
p. 219 5
George Lunt, "Origin of Late War" 5
Abraham Lincoln, Appendix^ ito "Congressional Globe,"
p. 94 5
C. W. Cottom, Letter to Howell Cobb, Secretary Treasury,
1860 5
George Lunt, "Origin of Late War" 5
Edward Everett, "Origin of Late War" 5
Horace Greeley, "Origin of Late War" 5
Edward Everett Hale, "Life of Wm. Seward" 5
Charles Beecher Stowe 6
Republican Platform, I860
Timothy Pickering, "Origin of Late War" 6
Josiah Quincy, "Origin of Late War'' 6
John Quincy Adams, "Charles Francis Adams, Jr." _ 6
"New York Herald," Nov. 11, 1860 -— j6
George Lunt T
Chief Justice Day 7
III.
The North Was Responsible for the War Between the States.
AUTHORITY:
"New York Herald," April 7, 1861 7
"New York Herald," April 5, 1861 7
Abraham Lincoln, "Life of Lincoln," by Sheppard 7
Horton's "Youth's History," pp. 71, 72, 109 8
Gideon Welles, "Origin of Late War" 8
William Seward, "Origin of Late War" 8, 9
Stephen Douglas, "Origin of Late War" 8
Zach Chandler, Letter to Governor Blair 8
Cousin & Hill, p. 371 8
General Bragg, 0. R. I., p. 457
Joseph Lane of Oregon, U. S. Senate, "Congressional
Globe," 36th Congress, p. 1347 10. 12
John Codman Ropes, "Story of Civil War," pp. 17, 18_ JO, 11
Wendell Phillips, Speeches in 1861 11
George Lunt, "Origin of Late War," p.485 12
Percy Gregg's "History," p. 158 -11, 12
President Buchanan 12
Congressional Records - 13
Hosmer's "History of the American Nation," Vol. XX..
p. 20 _ 8
J. G. Holland, "Life of Lincoln" 9
2
Page
Medill, "Chicago Tribune'' 9
Tarbell's "Life of Lincoln/' Vol. II., p. 144 9
"The New York Express/' April 15, 1861 9
"The Opening of the Twentieth Century" 10
Hallam's "Constitutional History of England" 10
Benjamin Williams of Lowell, Mass 10
IV.
The War Between the States Was Not Fought to Hold the
Slaves.
AUTHORITY:
Congress, in 1861 13
Abraham Lincoln, "Inaugural Address" 13
George Lunt, "Origin of Late War" 13
"Grant a Slaveholder/' Speaker's "Handbook/' p. 33_. .. 13
Simon Cameron, Letter to General Butler 14
Governor William Sprague of Rhode Island ._ 14
James Ford Rhodes, Vol. IV., p. 73 . 14
Percy Gregg, English Historian 14
Channing's "Short History of the United States" 14
"Origin of the Late War/' Introduction, Lunt 15
Salmon P. Chase, Secretary of War under Lincoln __, 15
V.
The Slaves Were Not Ill-Treated in the South and the North
Was Largely Responsible for Their Presence in the South.
AUTHORITY:
William Makepeace Thackeray, "Roundabout Papers" 15
Charles E. Stowe, Address at Fiske College, Nashville, Tenn. 16
Major-General Quitman of New York, Appendix "Origin
of Late War/' p. 465 15, 93
J. P. Schaffner, "War of Secession in America" _ 15
Pennsylvania Lawyer 16
"American Authors/' p. 492 16
Lunt's "Origin of the Late War" . 93
VI.
Coercion Was Not Constitutional.
AUTHORITY:
William Seward, Letter to "London Times" 19
William Seward, Letter to Charles Francis Adams, Sr 19
Edward Everett 19
3
Page
President James Buchanan, Letter to Edwin M. Stanton,
Secretary of War
Charles Sunnier
"Journal of Commerce," 1861
James S. Thayer, Jan. 21, 1861 19
Charles Beecher Stowe
James Buchanan, "Messages of Presidents," Dec. 3, I860- 20
Abraham Lincoln, George Lunt's "History''.
American Statesmen Series, "Life of Lincoln," Vol. II 20
Platform of the Eepublican Party, 1860 20
"New York Herald" - 19
Carpenter's "Logic of History," p. 50__
Horace Greeley, "American Conflict," p. 513 20
Ex-Governor Reynolds of Illinois, Dec. 28, 1860 — .. 21
VII.
The Federal Government Was Responsible for the Anderson-
ville Horrors.
AUTHORITY:
Charles A. Dana, Assistant Secretary of War 21
General Benjamin Butler, "Butler's Book" 21
General U. S. Grant, "Butler's Book" 21
Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War 60
Official Records, "War of the Rebellion"
Series 2, Vols. IV., V., VIII 21, 22
Series 3, Vol. V.
Page-Haley, "The True Story of Andersonville Prison"-.. 25
Judge Shea, "The New York Tribune," Jan. 24, 1876 23
Horace Greeley, "New York Tribune," Nov. 9, 1866 24
Chas. A. Dana, "New York Sun" 23, 24
Dr. E. A. Flewellen, Surgeon at Andersonville 25
Herman A. Braum, Prisoner at Andersonville 26
Dr. Gardner, "Medicine Contraband of War" 22
General Butler 23
Dr. Kerr, in New Orleans 24
Butler's Book 26
VIII.
The Republican Party That Elected Abraham Lincoln Was Not
Friendly to the South.
AUTHORITY :
Wendell Phillips, "Speeches and Papers" 27
Charles Beecher Stowe . 28
Page
R. G. Horton, "A Youth's History of the Civil War,"
p. 51, Vol. IV 28, 29
George Lunt's "Origin of Late War," p. 359 28, 29
Benjamin Wade, U. S. Senate, 1860 28
Judge William Duer, 1860 28
Raymond, in "New York Times'' ... 29
"Boston Courier," May 26, 1860 29
Judge Jessup, Lunt's "History" 29
Stephen Douglas, Letters to Mr. Hayes 29
Stephen Douglas, Dec. 27, 1860- 29
Stephen Douglas, Feb. 2, 1861 29
"Cincinnati Enquirer" 29
IX.
The South Desired Peace and Made Every Effort to Obtain It.
AUTHORITY:
Shaffner's "Secession War," London 30
Lord Charnwood's '"Life of Lincoln" (_30. 33
Senator Chandler of Michigan ' 30
George Lunt's "Origin of Late War" 32
"Congressional Globe," Appendix 1800- '61 30
Dixon of Connecticut, p. 41 , 32
"Congressional Globe/' Dec. 11, 1860 31
Salmon P. Chase, Peace Conference, Washington, D. C ._ 33
Abraham Lincoln, "Messages of Presidents" ._ 34
Nicolay & Hay, "Life of Lincoln," Vol. X 34
Seward's Letter to Charles Francis Adams 34
"War of Rebellion," Series III., Vol. IV., pp. 1163, 1164__ 34
"New York Times" 34
X.
The Policy of the Northern Army Was to Destroy Property —
That of the Southern Army to Protect It.
AUTHORITY:
Sheridan's Official Report 34
Sherman's "Memoirs" 34, 37
Lord Palmerson, British House of Commons - 35
General B. Butler, New Orleans Order No. 28 35
General Grant's Official Orders 35
James W. Forsyth, Sheridan's Chief -of-Staff 36
W. H. Halleck, Chief-of-Staff of General Grant 36
W. T. Sherman, Major-General to General Halleck 36
Percy Gregg's "History" '.. 37
"The Story of a Great March/' Nichols 36, 37
CONTRAST :
Page
President Jefferson Davis -37, 38
General R. E. Lee -37, 38
General J. B. Early, York, Pa.__
Chas. Francis Adams. Jr
General John B. Gordon, York, Pa.__
Rules at West Point
XL
The South Has Never Had Her Rightful Place in Literature.
AUTHORITY :
Harrriet Martineau
Hamilton W. Mabie
"The Outlook," 1899 40
John Fiske, "History of the United States" 40
Pancoast of Philadelphia — __39. 41
Victor Hugo
"London Quarterly Review" 41
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 41
Alfred Tennyson 41
Henry W. Longfellow
Abernathy 's ' ' American Literature " 41
Brander Matthews 41
Lewishon 41
"The Nen' International Encyclopedia" 42
"The Columbia Encyclopedia" - 42
XII.
The North Violated the Constitution and Refused to Stand By
the Decisions of the Supreme Court and This Drove
the South to Secession.
AUTHORITY :
United States Constitution . 42, 43
Percy Gregg, English Historian (Missouri Compromise) 43
George Lunt, "Origin of Late War," p. 261 43
Josiah Quincy, "Political Textbook," p. 108 , . 43
Peters' "Reports," p. 611 44
Judge Story of the Supreme Court 44
Carey, Elliott, Kettel, Political Economists, on "Tariff Acts" 44
Prof. Elliott, Harvard College (See Bledsoe's "War Be-
tiveen the States," p. 225) 44
"Southern Wealth and Northern Profits" 45
Chief Justice Story (Fugitive Slave Law) 45
Abraham Lincoln, Speech at Peoria, 111., 1854 45
6
Page
Judge Black, "Black's Essays/' p. 163__ 45
"Congressional Records/' William Penn and Benjamin
Franklin - 46
Bledsoe's "War Between the States" 45
Reports of United States Supreme Court 46
Congress, July 23, 1861 46
"Congressional Reports/' July 23, 1861 46
McClure on Abraham Lincoln 47
James Ford Rhodes, Vol. IV., p. 213 47
Chief Justice Chase 47
A.braham Lincoln, "Inaugural Address" 47
Horton's "Youth's History of the Civil War/' p. 51 47
Judge Black of Pennsylvania, "Black's Essays" (Mrs.
Surratt) '_ 48
Barnes' "Popular History/' p. 597 .. 48
Louis Schade, Attorney for Henry Wirz 49
"The True Story of Andersonville/' Page-Haley _.. 48
Horton on XIV. and XV. Amendments 47, 51
"The Chicago Chronicle" _ 51
John Fremont, "Freedom of the Press" 52
James Ford Rhodes, Vol. III., p. 232 (Freedom of Speech) 47
George Bancroft 47
"Life of Seward/' Vol. II, p. 254 47
"Decisions of Supreme Court/' Chas. Francis Adams, Jr._ . 52
J. Gr. Holland, "Decisions of Supreme Court/' "Life of Lin
coln/' p. 284 52
"Constitutional View of the South'' 51
Barnes' "Popular History" (Supreme Court), p. 476 48. 52
Abraham Lincoln, Cooper Institute Speech . 53
"The Construction Construed, Von Hoist (Squatter Sover
eignty) 53
Report from Charleston Convention, 1860 52
The Trent Affair, "Life of Seward" 53
Abraham Lincoln, Albany, N. Y 48
XIII.
Jefferson Davis Must Have His Rightful Place in History.
AUTHORITY:
Records of War Department, Washington, D .C 53
Tribute from a Mexican War Veteran 56
"Farewell Address" to Senate, 1861 56
Speech at Fanueil Hall, Boston, 1861 56
Chief Justice Chase of Supreme Court, U. S 56
James E. Titlow, who manacled him 57
"The New York World" 57
"The New York Sun".. 57
Page
Charles Francis Adams, Jr 57
Dr. Craven, Prison Physician 57
Ridpath's "History" 57
E wing's "Northern Rebellion Against the Constitution" 55
"Congressional Records" 56
Chief Justice Chase 58
Rawle's "View of the Constitution" 56
Charles O'Connor, Davis' Attorney 59
Horton's "Youth's Hitsory of the Civil War" __.. . 60
"Republic of Republics," p. 44 59
Dr. Bacon of Assouet, Mass 59
"North American Review/' September, 1904 59
Charles Francis Adams, Jr 59
R. G. Horton's "Youth's History of the Civil War." p. 384 59
J. G. Elaine, U. S. Congress, 1876 60
Judge Shea's Report 60
Russell's "Diary," p. 163 61
Secretary Stanton's Statistics 60
"New Haven Register" 61
XIV,
Abraham Lincoln Must Have His Rightful Place in History.
AUTHORITY :
"Abraham Lincoln," Nicolay & Hay, Vol. I., p. 186 65
George Lunt, "Origin of Late War," p. 435 65
Godwin, "The Nation" 66
Thaddeus Stevens 66
James Ford Rhodes, Vol. IV., p. 123 _...._ 63
Wendell Phillips, Cooper Institute, 1864 66
Percy Gregg, (English Historian) 66
Chief Justice Supreme Court 66
Lieut.-Col. Ludlow, Letter to Col. Ould, July 26, 1863 67
McClure 66, 67
"Life and Times of Hannibal Hamlin," p. 393 . 67
George Bancroft, "Life of Seward," Vol. II., p. 254 67
Boutwell, Congressman from Massachusetts 67
"On Circuit With Lincoln," p. 634 67
Ida Tarbell's "Life of Lincoln" 67
James Ford Rhodes, Vol. IV., p. 320 67
Lamon's "Life of Lincoln" 67
Richard Dana, Assistant Secretary of War 67
Benjamin R. Curtis, Supreme Court 67
John A. Logan, "Great Conspiracy," p. 551 68
"McClure's Magazine," January, 1893 69
Ida Tarbell's "Life of Lincoln," p. 165 68
B. F. Butler's Book 68
8
Page
Morse's "American Statesmen" 69
Richard A. Dana, Letters to Thomas Lathrop, Feb. 23, 1863 69
Herndon's "Life of Lincoln"—- 70
Lamon's "Life of Lincoln" 70
Hapgood's "Abraham Lincoln, the Man of the People,"
p. 273 69, 70
Wendell Phillips 69
E. C. Ingersoll 70
Henry Ward Beecher 70
Allen Thorndike Rice, "Reminiscences of Lincoln," p. 14__ 70
"Congressional Records" 70
George Lunt 70
Lincoln's "Inaugural Address" 70
Butler's Book 70
Lincoln's Letter to Alexander Stephens ._ 71
Emancipation Proclamation 71
Lincoln, Speech, Charleston, 111., 1858 70, 71
David Saville Muzzey's " American History," p. 486 73
James Ford Rhodes, Vol. IV., p. 64 72, 74
Lincoln, Peoria, 111., 1854 71, 72
Morse's "Abraham Lincoln," Vol. II., p. 102 74
Carpenter 74
Barnes' "Popular History," Chap. XV 75
James Ford Rhodes, Vol. IV., p. 344 75
Chesterton, "English History"^ I 75
Lincoln, Letter to Hamlin, Sept. 28, 1863 76
Wendell Phillips 75; 76
Second Writing Emancipation Act 76
George Lunt 74
Guerber 75
Abraham Lincoln, "Messages and Papers" 75
Herndon & Weik's "True Story of a Great Life" 78, 82
Schouler's "History of the United States," Vol. VI., p. 21 __ 77
"McClure's Magazine" 75
Horace Greeley, p. 274 77
Don Piatt's "Reminiscences;" p. 21 77
Charles Francis Adams, Jr .__ 77
Preface to "The True Story of a Great Life," Herndon
and Weik 78
Nicolay & Hay 76
Lamon's "Life of Lincoln," p. 173 78
Gettysburg Address 78
Abraham Lincoln 79
Lamon's "Recollections" 77, 78, 79
Nicolay 79, 80
Willam Seward 79
Edward Everett _ . 78
Page
W. H. Cunningham, Reporter for "The Star" 81
"Abraham Lincoln's Book/' Herndon & Lamon 83
Dennis Hanks (Herndon) _1
Mrs. Lincoln, Stepmother (Herndon) 83
Jesse E. Fall (Herndon) 83
Bradley 's "Orations and Arguments/' p. 227, par. 5 80
J. G. Holland, "Life of Lincoln" 84. 85
Ida Tarbell's "Life of Lincoln" 84
Nicolay & Hay's "Life of Lincoln" 84
William M. Davison 85
Albert Bushnell Hart 84
"Sunday School Times" 84
P. D. Ross, Englishman; "Harper's Weekly," Nov. \, 1908 84
"St. Louis Globe-Democrat" 78
Henry E. Shepherd — 81
Judd Stewart 84
Don Piatt 84
Stanton 85
John Hay 85
J. B. Wade 85
Walter McElreath 86
Jas. A. Stevens 86
Dr. Littlefield, Needham, Mass 86
XV.
Reconstruction Was Not Just to the South — It Made the
Ku Klux Klan a Necessity.
AUTHORITY :
Ridpath's "Universal History," p. 176 86
Muzzey's "American History," p. 486 87
Mark Twain 87
Walter Henry Cook, Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio_ . 87
Dan Voorhees, Senator from Indiana 87
Reconstruction Governors: 89
(Governors Moses, Clayton and Warmouth).
"The Chicago Chronicle" 89
Charles Francis Adams, Jr 89
"Secret Political Societies in the South," Walter Cook 90
Harper & Brothers, N. Y. 90
"History of the Ku Klux Klan" 91
10
XVI.
Race Prejudice is Stronger in the North Than in the South.
AUTHORITY:
Page
"Democracy in America/' De Tocqueville_l 92
William Seward 92
Kansas Legislature 92
Muzzey's "American History" 93
Lunt's "Origin of Late War" 93
Major-General Quitman of New York 93
"The Secession War in America/' J. P. Shaffull 93
Pittsburg, Pa., Daily 94
William Makepeace Thackeray .. 15
"Boston Herald," September 12, 1919__ 94
XVII.
The South Was More Interested in the Freedom of the Slaves
Than the North.
AUTHORITY :
Charles Francis Adams, Jr 95
"Congressional Records/' 1860 96
"U universal Emancipation," Lundy 97
George Lunt's "History" 97, 100
"The Sectional Controversy," W. C. Fowler 98
Salmon P. Chase 98
Rice's "Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln'' - 98
General Don Piatt 98
Barnes' "Popular History," p. 478 102
Edward Everett, Fanueil Hall 102
Judge Jeremiah Black . 102
Abraham Lincoln 96
Richardson's "Defense of the South" 96
J. J. Veath 103
Hill Peebles Wilson 103
XVIII.
Why the South Demands Corrected Textbooks.
AUTHORITY :
Muzzey's "American History" 110
Davidson's "History" 104
Montgomery's "Beginner's History" 104
"British Encyclopedia'' 104
Henry Cabot Lodge, "History of the Early Colonies'' 107
11
Page
Massachusetts "Historical Collections," Vol. IV., p. 20 107
"Continental Journal/' Massachusetts, March 1, 1781 107
"The Cyclopedia of Political Slavery," Vol. III., p. 733. __ 107
"Smart Set," February, 1920 106
"Pelham Papers" 105
New Twentieth Century Edition of "British Encyclopedia''
p. 360, "American Literature" _ ._ 104
Hildreth's "Despotism in America" 106
"The Evening Sun," Baltimore, Md., Nov. 17, 1919 108
Henry Cabot Lodge 107
"Family Life in Virginia," p. 344 105
"History of the Early Colonies," Lodge, p. 154 105
James Russell Lowell .. 110
Lossing's "History Concerning Robert E. Lee/' Vol. V.;
Chap. 116, p. 1483 108
Richard Hildreth 105
"Official History of Suffrage" 108
"Boys of '61," Coffin, pp. 446, 29, 518, 520, 411 109
Holland's "Life of Abraham Lincoln" 109
"The British Weekly" 109
Librarian, Pueblo, Colorado 112
Champion's "War of the Union" 112
"The Story of a Great March" . 111
William and Mary "Quarterly" 112
"The New York World" -112
Muzzey's "History of the American People" 110
"The Chicago Tribune" 110
Davidson's "History" 110
James Russell Lowell 108
XIX.
The Vilification of Jefferson Davis Became Necessary to Make
the Glorification of Abraham Lincoln More Effective.
AUTHORITY:
"Harper's Weekly" 110, 111
"New York Tribune" 110
"The Story of a Great March" 111
Thaddeus Stevens 111
John Forney, "Washington Chronicle" 111
Boutwell of Massachusetts 111
Cheney's "History" 110. Ill
12
XX.
Some of the Omissions of History.
AUTHORITY:
Page
Preface II.-XL
The First Battle of Bull Run 112
"The New York World" • 112
"Great Epochs of American History" 112
Merrimac (Virginia), and Monitor 113
The English and French Men of War 113
Stedman's "American Literature" 113
Richardson's "American Literature'' 113
Pattee's "American Literature" 113
Houghton, Mifflin & Co 113
Famous Rides of History 114
INTRODUCTION
The South is not given credit for the part she deserves in the
making of the Nation. The text books that are now being used
are most unjust to her; the reference books now in the libraries
are most unjust to her; the omissions in history as now written
are most unjust to her ; the history as now written, if accepted,
will consign her to infamy.
Realizing this, "THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY" gathered from
statements made by men of unquestioned authority, have been
put together in a connected way for the guidance of any desir
ing to have the proofs concerning these facts at hand.
It is hoped that every teacher of history and literature will
use "TRUTHS OF HISTORY" in connection with their text books
to counteract the falsehoods of history which are now to be
found everywhere in literature.
It has been stated that eighty one per cent, of the schools and
colleges in the South are today using text books untrue to the
South, and seventeen per cent, are using histories omitting most
important facts concerning the South.
Dr. J. L. M. Curry, in his "Southern States of the American
Nation/' says:
"History, poetry, romance, art, and public opinion have
been most unjust to the South. If the true record be given,
the South is rich in patriotism, in intellectual force ,in
civic and military achievements, in heroism, in honorable
and sagacious statesmanship — but if history as now written
is accepted it will consign the South to infamy."
The South should not be afraid to speak the truth and call
injustice by its proper name. In failing to do this heretofore
we have been unjust to the South.
For fear of offending some personal friends of the North, we
have assumed an apologetic tone too long ; and for fear of fail
ing to secure an office or some honor we have allowed politics to
make us unjust.
There is no need for any animus to be shown, for no facts
must be stated which cannot be substantiated by reliable author
ity on the other side — but we must not be afraid to speak boldly.
I.
PREFACE
The histories as now written magnify and exalt the New
England colonies, and the Mayflower crew with bare mention of
Jamestown Colony, thirteen years older, and the crews of the
Susan Constant, the Discovery, and the Goodspeed — the names
of these vessels are not even given in most histories.
An extended account is always given of the religious faith
and practice of the New England Colony, but little or nothing
is said of the religious faith and practice of the Jamestown
Colony, and no mention of Sir Thomas Dale's Code in the
Jamestown Colony — that code which enforced daily attendance'
upon Divine worship, penalty for absence, penalty for plas-
phemy, penalty for speaking evil of the Church, and refusing to
answer the Catechism, and for neglecting work.
Histories as now written lay great stress upon the industries
of the New England colonies, and speak of the South as made
up of "a landed aristocracy with slavery as its only excuse for
existence. ' '
They speak of slavery as a most barbarous institution, and
while holding Virginia responsible for introducing slaves into
the American colonies, they say nothing of the slave trade and
who was responsible for that. They record that William Penn
urged the freedom of the slaves, and do not tell that William
Penn died a slaveholder.
They are careful to tell of the great men of New England,
which they should do, but they should not make one believe that
they alone were responsible for making the Nation great.
While stressing the prominent part taken by their great men,
they fail to tell you that many of them stood for State Sov
ereignty and the right of Secession as strongly as the South did.
They will tell you of the nineteen patriots at Lexington, but
overlook entirely the one hundred patriots at Alamance. They
will tell you of the Boston Tea Party but ignore the tea parties
at Charleston, Annapolis and other Southern ports, and omit
the Eden ton, (N. C.) tea party where fifty-one patriotic women
organized the first patriotic organization for women in the
world— "The Daughters of Liberty."
II.
They will tell you of Otis, Samuel Adams, John Adams and
other men of New England, but make no mention of Edmund
Pendleton, of Virginia, who first suggested that we should be
free of English rule, nor of Thomas Nelson, of Virginia, who
read Pendleton 's Resolutions in the Virginia Assembly, nor of
Richard Henry Lee who was sent to the Continental Congress to
present these Resolutions, yet these were the Resolutions that
were adopted and resulted in the Declaration of Independence
that made us a Nation.
They will not tell you that the Executive, Judicial and Legis
lative branches of the Government were proposed by a South
ern man, and that John Marshall of Virginia settled the rela
tions of these to the Government.
They will tell of the great abolition movement, and extol
William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, John G. Whittier,
Walt Whitman, the Beechers and others, but omit to tell you
that Washington, George Mason, Thomas Jefferson, John Ran
dolph, James Madison, John Monroe, the Lees and others plan
ned to free their slaves and advocated the colonization or the
gradual emancipation of all slaves.
They will tell you that Abraham Lincoln "broke the shackles
that bound the poor slaves, ' ' but will not tell you that Abraham
Lincoln left the poor slaves in non-seceding states still wearing
the shackles, and a Southern man, John Brooks Henderson of
Missouri, by the Thirteenth Amendment freed them after Lin
coln's death.
They will tell you that Liberia was bought by a Benevolent
Society "to colonize the poor slaves," but will not tell you that
a Southern man was the president of that society, and that the
capital of Liberia was named Monrovia after James Monroe of
Virginia, and protected by the Monroe Doctrine.
They will tell you of the horrible assassination of Abraham
Lincoln, and it was, but say nothing of the far more horrible
hanging of Mrs. Surratt, an innocent woman, without judge or
jury, upon a false accusation, nor of Dalgren's plan to assassi
nate Jefferson Davis and his entire Cabinet, and no condemna
tion followed.
They tell of the falsehood of history, that Jefferson Davis
tried to escape in woman's clothes, and say little of the cowardly
disguise of Lincoln in entering Washington.
III.
Abraham Lincoln is extolled for continued violations of the
Constitution and Jefferson Davis maligned for daring to stand
by it and uphold it.
Abraham Lincoln's services to the country are magnified and
Jefferson Davis' services to the Federal government minimized.
They will tell you of the horrors of Andersonville, and they
were horrors, but fail to tell you who was responsible for them,
nor that the mortality was far greater among Southern men in
Northern prisons, and without excuse.
The victories of the Northern Army are magnified and the
victories of the Southern Army mentioned lightly or slightingly.
They do not tell that General Grant, a slaveholder, was put as
leader of the Northern Army and General Lee, who had freed
his slaves, as the leader of the Southern Army, but they do say
that the war was fought to hold the slaves yet do not tell that
only 200,000 slaveholders were in the Southern Army, while
315,000 slaveholders were in the Northern Army.
The South is no longer willing to stand for these misrepre
sentations and omissions of history, and a fair-minded North
will not blame the South, and will be ready to hear her side of
the story, provided it is given from facts and not traditions.
GENERAL LEE said :
"Every one should do all in his power to collect and dis
seminate the truth, in the hope that it may find a place in
history and descend to posterity. ' '
Again General Lee said :
"History is not the relation of campaigns, and battles,
and generals or other individuals, but that which shows the
principles for which the South contended and which justi
fied her struggle for those principles. "
General Lee showed he was far more concerned that the cause
should be vindicated than that he should be glorified or any act
of his or others be magnified.
He said also:
"All that the South has ever asked or desired is that the
Union founded by our forefathers should be preserved, and
that the government as was originally organized should be
administered in purity and truth."
BENJAMIN H. HILL felt great concern about this question. He
said:
"We owe it to our dead, to our living, and to our chil-
IV.
dren to preserve the truth and repel the falsehoods, so that
we may secure just judgment from the only tribunal be
fore which we may appear and be fully and fairly heard,
and that tribunal is the bar of history. ' '
Had the South followed this advice we would not today, after
sixty or more years have passed, be obliged to correct these false
hoods of history. Falsehoods circulated not only in our own
country, but now widely circulated in foreign countries by such
writers as George Creel, Booth Tarkington and Dr. Crane.
THOMAS NELSON PAGE, several years ago, gave the South a great
warning which we of the South did not heed. He said :
"In a few years there will be no South to demand a his
tory if we leave history as it is now written. How do we
stand today in the eyes of the world? We are esteemed
'ignorant, illiterate, cruel, semi^barbarous, a race sunken
in brutality and vice,' a race of slave drivers who 'disrupted
the Union in order to perpetuate human slavery' and 'who
as a people have contributed nothing to the advancement
of mankind.' '
Dr. J. L. M. Curry also warned us. The Confederate Veter
ans have through their historians, over and over again, warned
us. Colonel Louis Guion in 1900 at New Orleans, La., offered
resolutions providing for history committees to be appointed to
investigate the text books then being used in our schools. The
movement started and several objectionable text books were
ruled out. Other U. C. V. historians did the same. In Col.
Guion 's speech before that Convention, he called attention to the
fact that in nearly every history then in use the children were
being taught that their fathers and grandfathers were "traitors
and rebels," and that the war was a war of rebellion and they
were calling it a Civil War. That the children in their literary
work in schools were reciting "Barbara Frietchie," a myth of
history by Whittier's own acknowledgment, and were being
taught that Stonewall Jackson was a Hun in spirit. Also that
they were reciting "Sheridan's Ride" by Buchanan Read, who
in the poem alludes to the Confederates as "traitors."
I have always found the fair-minded men and women of the
North anxious to hear the South 's side of history. I am sure
they have no respect for us when we are afraid to tell the truth.
The South has really more to fear from the omissions of his
tory than from falsehoods included in the text books now writ-
V.
ten. One of the greatest omissions is the heroic part the men in
the Southern Navy took in the War between the States.
When the news reached them that Fort Sumter had been
fired upon, they from a high-toned sense of honor surrendered
their vessels to the United States Government from whom they
had received their commission, and then returned home to cast
in their lot with their own states. This sacrifice was a great one
and meant giving up all that they had received in education,
training for the Navy and in the experience they had gained in
service. It meant foregoing all hope of promotion of honors in
that line — but they willingly did it for the principle so dear to
them. They returned to find the South without a navy and
without means then of securing one. They did their best with
the vessels available and never murmured. History exalts those
Southern men who refused to make this sacrifice and remained
in the United States Navy, but omits to tell the heroic deeds of
those who under the most trying circumstances won immortal
renown. History should be made to record the heroic deeds of
the South as well as of the North.
Surely the man who organized the United States Naval Acad
emy at Annapolis, the man who assisted in the capture of Vera
Cruz, the man who commanded Perry's flagship in Japan ex
pedition and the man who was placed in command of the Navy
Yard at Washington — to say nothing of that man's services in
the Confederate Navy, winning the highest honors ever given,
being the only one to hold the high office of Admiral, deserves a
prominent place in the United States history. Yet one rarely
finds the name of Admiral Franklin Buchanan mentioned ex
cept in books by Southern men.
Rear-Admiral Raphael Semmes should hold a high place in
truthful history not only for his book, "Service Afloat/' but
ranking as Commander of the "Alabama" with John Paul
Jones, Decatur, Lawrence, Farragut, Dewey and other great
naval heroes, and yet we rarely find his name or his deeds men
tioned in history outside of his native state.
The name of Matthew Fontaine Maury, the one who suggested
organizing the Naval Academy at Annapolis, the one who wrote
the text book for the United States Navy; the one who revolu
tionized the sailing of the world by charts (the voyage around
Cape Horn being shortened by forty days and at a saving to the
VI.
Government of $40,000,000 annually) ; the one who suggested
the Weather Bureau, and really was the one responsible for the
National Observatory; the one who made Cyrus Field's Atlantic
Cable a possibility; the one who redeemed the lands of the
Mississippi ; the one who established the great circuit routes for
ocean steamers; the one who traced the great Gulf Stream —
this man of science cannot be left out of truthful history. His
name is not even found in the Congressional Library's list of
noted scientists because he cast his lot with the Confederate
Cause.
Maury was invited to become a member of every leading lit
erary and scientific society in England and on the Continent;
he was knighted by Russia, Denmark, Portugal, Belgium, and
France. Gold medals were bestowed upon him by Prussia,
Australia , Sweden, Holland, Sardinia, Bremen and France.
Germany gave him the "Cosmos Medal," the only duplicate ever
given. Cambridge University, England, gave him the degree
of LL.D., and Berlin erected a monument to him with this in
scription: "A man whom kings delight to honor" and yet his
own United States people, because he fought for the South, had
his name erased from his wonderful charts, and refused to let
him be classed with the great men of science.
Shall omissions as these in history in justice to the world be
allowed .any longer ?
Had the cause of the South in 1865 prevailed, history would
have been truthfully written by unprejudiced historians The
Southern statesmen who had been true to the Constitution could
better have steered the "Ship of State'' than such men as Thad
Stevens, Chas. Sumner, Fessenden, Turnbull, Andrew Johnson
and others.
It has taken the South many years to get off of that "Rock of
Offense," the Reconstruction Period. While the South was com
batting the destructive forces at work during this time — homes
were being destroyed, domestic relations were being upset, prop
erty was being confiscated, politics was being corrupted, liberty
of speech, and liberty of the press were being suppressed — the
North was writing the history unmolested and we of the South
have allowed this history written from the Northern viewpoint,
with absolute ignorance of the South, to be taught in our schools
all these years with an indifference that is truly appalling.
VII.
We have allowed our leaders and our soldiers to be spoken of
as "rebels." Secession was not rebellion.
We have allowed them to be called "traitors" — they could
never convict one Southern man for the stand he took in 1861.
We have allowed our cause to be spoken of as a " Lost Cause. ' '
The Cause for which the Confederate soldier fought was not a
"Lost Cause." The late war was fought to maintain the very
same principle — the non-interference with just rights. The
trouble in 1865 was that the South failed to maintain this prin
ciple by force of arms. Being a Republic of Sovereign States
and not a Nation she had the right to resent any interference
with rights which had been guaranteed to her by the Constitu
tion. The South never has abandoned the principle for which
she fought nor ever will. By overwhelming arms, 2,850,000 to
a small handful, comparatively speaking, 600,000, she was forced
to surrender, and in surrendering she was forced to submit to
the terms of parole which were that she should never secede
again. This does not mean that the right to secede is not still
in the Constitution, but the promise has been made never to try
it again, and she will keep that promise.
We have allowed the war to be called a Civil War, because
the North called it so when history was first written, and by
allowing this we acknowledged that we were a Nation, not Sov
ereign States, and therefore had no right to secede. No wonder
that the doctrine of State Rights has been so misunderstood !
It is with no thought of stirring up sectional strife, but rather
with the desire of allaying sectional bitterness that I am anxious
to have the truth known. If the North does not know the
South 's side of history — and how can she know it if we do not
tell it to the world — then the historians of the future will con
tinue to misrepresent the South, and the South will continue
to resent the misrepresentations.
We of the South are not advocating the adoption of any one
text book, but we are advocating that those text books unjust
to the South shall be ruled out of our schools, out of our homes,
out of our public and private libraries, and that new encyclo
pedias and books of reference now being sold or given as a
bribe to secure commendation be carefully examined before
placed in public or private libraries.
The great underlying thought which animated the soldiers of
VIII.
the Confederacy was their profound regard for the principle of
State self-government — they were not fighting to hold their
slaves. Only a very small minority of the men who fought in
the Southern army were slaveholders.
"It was the abolitionists of the North who looked on the
Constitution of the United States as a 'scrap of paper,' 'a
covenant with death and a league with hell, ' who demanded
an anti-slavery Constitution, an anti-slavery Bible, and an
anti-slavery God."
George Lunt, in his "Origin of the Late War/' says that such
men at the North were in the minority.
The movements for emancipation began early in the South
and were hindered by the intemperate and fanatical abuse of
slaveholders by the abolitionists and also by the difficult prob
lem of how to regulate the relations of the two races so rad
ically different after emancipation. The South fought for the
right to settle her own domestic affairs, free from any interfer
ence on the part of self-constituted advisers.
The doctrine of States Rights is not well understood. The
States do not derive their rights from the Constitution, but the
Constitution derives its rights from the States.
The States do not derive their rights from the Federal Gov
ernment, but each State derives its power from the people of
the State. At last the people hold the power, and it is not the
people of all States collectively, but the people of each one of
the Thirteen Sovereign States, separately, who act in conven
tion representing the will of the people, so the people must not
surrender this power to direct their local affairs to the Govern
ment.
GEORGE BANCROFT'S "History of the United States":
"The Federal Government is only a common agent for
the transaction of the business delegated to it by the action
of the States."
It is not well understood what are the States Rights that are
guaranteed by the Constitution.
CIIIKP JUSTICE DAY, of the United States Supreme Court, Juno
3, 1918, said :
"If Congress can regulate matters entrusted to local au
thority, the power of the States may be eliminated, and thus
our system of government be practically destroyed."
IX.
PRESIDENT GROVER CLEVELAND said :
"The doctrine of home rule, as I understand it, lies at
the foundation of republican institutions, and cannot be
too strongly insisted upon."
THOMAS JEFFERSON said:
"When all government, domestic and foreign, in little
things as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington
as the center of all power, it will render powerless the
checks provided by our government on another, and will
become venal and oppressive as the government from which
we have just separated."
"Life of Webster/' in American Statesmen Series, by Henry
Cabot Lodge, Senator from Massachusetts:
"When the Constitution was adopted by the votes of
States at Philadelphia, and accepted by the votes of States
in popular conventions, it is safe to say that there was not
a man in the country, from Washington and Hamilton, on
the one side, to George Clinton and George Mason on the
other, who regarded the new system as anything but an
experiment entered upon as States, and from which each
and every State had the right peaceably to withdraw, a
right which was very likely to be exercised."
GEORGE CLINTON of New York, said :
"The sovereignty of the States, I consider the only
stable security for the liberties of the people against the
encroachment of power."
RAWLE'S "View of the Constitution":
"The Union was formed by the voluntary agreement of
the States, and in uniting together they have not forfeited
their nationality, nor have they been reduced to one and
the same people. If one of the States chooses to withdraw
its name from the contract, it would be difficult to disprove
its right of doing so, and the Federal Government would
have no means of maintaining its claim, either by force or
right."
The South has been very patient, but can afford to be patient
no longer — she must demand that the truth be told, and the
truth is all she asks.
She desires that the truth be told in such a way that peace
between the sections shall be the result. Peace cannot come
until the truth is known and acknowledged by both North and
South. These "TRUTHS OF HISTORY" are presented with this
thought in mind.
X.
GENERAL BENNETT H. YOUNG said:
''The time has come when men may speak freely, kindly,
and truly of the past. The War between the States with its
sacrifices has ceased, and peace between the sections with
its ennobling, refining and uplifting influences has come to
abide forever. They who would stay its marches and delay
its reign are the enemies of the Nation's happiness."
The South should be as quick to resent an injustice to the
North in history as she now resents an injustice to the South
by the North.
Already instances have come to notice where text books
making false statements about the North have been rejected in
Southern schools. Will not the North be as magnanimous?
Read "The Measuring Rod" for testing text-books, and en
dorsing books for libraries, which was prepared at the request
of the Confederate Veterans. Read the "Warning" given.
MILDRED LEWIS RUTHERFORD.
The Villa, Athens, Ga.
XI.
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
i.
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
1787, WAS A COMPACT BETWEEN SOVEREIGN
STATES, AND WAS NOT PERPETUAL NOR
NATIONAL.
AUTHORITY:
ELLIOTT'S DEBATES, Vol. V., p. 214:
"When the Constitution was outlined and read, the
words Perpetual Union which had been in the Articles of
Confederation were omitted. Alexander Hamilton and
others noticing it, and desiring a Union, opposed the adop
tion of the Constitution. Some one moved to have it made
a National Government, but this motion was unanimously
defeated. Senator Ellsworth of Connecticut and Senator
Gorham of Massachusetts have testified to this."
DANIEL WEBSTER, "The Federalist/' p. 908:
' ' If the states were not left to leave the Union when their
rights were interfered with, the government would have
been National, but the Convention refused to baptize it by
that name."
DANIEL WEBSTER, Capon Springs Speech, in 1851 :
"The Union is a Union of States founded upon Compact.
How is it to be supposed that when different parties enter
into a compact for certain purposes either can disregard
one provision of it and expect others to observe the rest?
"If the Northern States wilfully and deliberately refuse
to carry out their part of the Constitution, the South would
be no longer bound to keep the compact,
"A bargain broken on one side is broken on all sides."
DANIEL WEBSTER in 1833 said:
"If a contract, it rests on plighted faith, and the mode
of redress would be to declare the whole void. States may
secede if a League or Compact."
HENRY CABOT LODGE says :
"The weak place in Webster's armour in the Hayne-
Webster Debate was historical — the facts were against him.
And Chief Justice Story in that controversy never once
mentioned secession, he was only stressing nullification."
2 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
COMMENTARIES ON THE CONSTITUTION, Vol. Ill, p. 287 :
"The attributes of sovereignty are now enjoyed by every
State in the Union." — Alexander Hamilton.
"The Thirteen States are Thirteen Sovereignties. " —
James Wilson of Pennsylvania.
"Each State enjoys sovereign power." — Gouverneur
Morris.
"The Government was made by a number of Sovereign
States. ' ' — Roger Sherman.
"The Thirteen States are Thirteen Sovereign bodies."
— Oliver Ellsworth.
"The States are Nations." — Daniel Webster.
Every one of these men were delegates to the Constitutional
Convention except Daniel Webster.
THE FEDERALIST, Chapter VIII, Nos. XI, XXXIX :
"If it were a consolidated government the assent of a
majority of the people would be sufficient to establish it.
but it is to be binding on the people of each State, and only
by their own separate consent."
ALEXANDER HAMILTON, "The Federalist/' Vol. LX. :
"If the Constitution is adopted (and it was) the Union
will be in fact and in theory an association of States or a
Confederacy. ' '
DANIEL WEBSTER, U. S. Senate, Feb. 15, 1833 :
"If the Union was formed by the accession of States then
the Union may be dissolved by the secession of States."
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, Franklin Works, Vol. V., p. 409 :
"The States acceded to the Constitution."
JUDGE STORY:
"If the Constitution is a compact then the States have a
right to secede."
GEORGE BANCROFT, History of the United States:
"The States that gave life to the Union are necessary to
the continuance of that life."
JAMES BUCHANAN :
"Rawle taught at West Point that the Union was an
asociation of independent republics."
CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, "Constitutional Ethics of Secession/'
pp. 16, 17:
"William Rawle was an eminent Philadelphia lawyer
and was twenty-nine years of age when the Constitution
THE TRUTHS OP HISTORY 3
was adopted. He was, for many years, Chancellor of the
Law Association of Philadelphia and principal author of
the revised Code of Pennsylvania, and stood in the foremost
rank of the legal luminaries of the first third of the cen
tury/'
GEORGE BANCROFT says :
"The Constitution was adopted first by States in Con
vention, each State acting for itself in its own sovereign
capacity."
LORD BROUGHAM said :
"The devising of means for keeping its integrity as a
federacy, while the rights and powers of the individual
States are maintained entire, is the greatest refinement of
social policy to which any age has ever given birth."
II.
Secession Was Not Rebellion
AUTHORITY:
DR. HENRY WADE ROGERS, Dean of the Law Department of Yale :
"When peace came it was found that the Articles of
Confederation were weak, in that the Central government
could not legally assume sovereign power — that power re
sided in those free, sovereign and independent States, and
there was no delegation of any rights to a central head.
"It became necessary, therefore, to change the Articles
of Confederation so that the States should be brought to
cooperate, by realizing that the government should not be
a perpetual Union, but an agreement by which certain
rights were reserved for the Federal government, and cer
tain rights were reserved for the State."
RAWLE 's "View of the Constitution" was a text-book used at
West Point. Rawle said:
"It will depend upon the State itself whether it will
. continue a member of the Union."
"If the States are interfered with they may wholly with
draw from the Union." (pp. 289, 290).
"General Lee told Bishop Wilmer, of Louisiana, that if
it had not been for the instruction received from Rawle 's
text-book at West Point he would not have left the United
States Army and joined the Confederate Army at the
breaking out of the War between the States."
4 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
BENJAMIN T. WADE, Senator from Ohio, 1858 :
"Who is to be the final arbiter — the government or the
States — why, to yield the right of the States to protect its
own citizens would consolidate this government into a mis
erable despotism."
GOLDWIN SMITH of Cornell University:
"The Southern leaders ought not to have been treated as
rebels — secession is not rebellion."
JUDGE BLACK, of Pennsylvania, said :
"John Quincy Adams, in 1839, and Abraham Lincoln,
1847, made elaborate arguments in favor of the legal right
of a State, to Secede." — Black's Essays.
AMERICAN CONFLICT, Horace Greeley, Vol. I, p. 359 :
"Let the people be told why they wish to break up the
Confederation, and let the act of secession be the echo of an
unmistakable popular fiat. Then those who rush to carnage
to try to defeat it would place themselves clearly in the
wrong."
Again Horace Greeley said:
"If the Declaration of Independence justified the seces
sion of 3,000,000 colonists in 1776, I do not see why the
Constitution ratified by the same men should not justify the
secession of 5,000,000 of the Southerners from the Federal
Union in 1861."— New York Tribune.
Again he says :
"We have repeatedly said, and we once more insist that
the great principle embodied by Jefferson in the Declara
tion of Independence that government derives its power
from the consent of the governed is sound and just, then if
the Cotton States, the Gulf States or any other States
choose to form an independent nation they have a clear
right to do it."
ABRAHAM LINCOLN said :
"Any people whatever have a right to abolish the exist
ing government and form a new one that suits them better."
— Congressional Records, 1847).
GEORGE LUNT, of Massachusetts, says:
"Had Buchanan in 1860 sent an armed force to prevent
the nullification of the Fugitive Slave Law, as Andrew
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 5
Jackson threatened to do in 1833, there would have been a
secession of fifteen Northern States instead of thirteen
Southern States." — Origin of Late War.
BENJAMIN J. WILLIAMS, of Lowell, Mass., in his book, Died For
Their State, said :
"In the celebrated resolutions of 1789, Mr. Madison and
Mr. Jefferson declared that each State had an equal right
to be its own judge. If so, then, the right of secession by
the South could have followed, and each State has the right
to judge if the infraction is sufficient to warrant her with
drawal. "
The Ordinance of Secession was simply the States resuming
their delegated sovereign powers in order to organize a Union
that would stand by the Constitution. That they had the right
to do this, see Hallam's "Constitutional History of England/'
Vol. II., p. 219.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN said:
"Any people that can may revolutionize and make their
own of so much of the territory as they inhabit." — Appendix
to Congressional Globe, 30th Congress, p. 94.
C. "W. COTTOM, in a letter to Secretary of Treasury, Howell Cobb
in 1860, said :
"The action of the Southern States in seceding from a
Union which refused to recognize and protect their Con
stitutional rights meets with my most cordial approbation/'
LUNT'S "Origin of the Late War," p. 435, says that in a letter
sent to Fanueil Hall, Mr. Everett said :
"If our sister States must leave us, in the name of
Heaven let them go in peace. ' '
GEORGE LUNT, in his "Origin of the Late War,'9 (D. Apple-
ton & Co.) :
"Had the Democrats won out in 1860 the Northern
States would have been the seceding States not the South
ern."
EDWARD EVERETT HALE, in his "Life of William Seward," says:
' ' The Civil War will not be treated as a rebellion, but as
a great event in the history of our nation which, after forty
years, it is clearly recognized to have been."
HORACE GREELEY:
"The right to secede may be a revolutionary one, but it
exists nevertheless; and we do not see how one party can
have a right to do what another party has a right to pre-
6 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
vent. We must ever resist the asserted right of any State
to remain in the Union and nullify or defy the laws there
of ; to withdraw from the Union is another matter. And
when a section of our Union resolves to go out, we shall
resist any coercive acts to keep it in. We hope never to
live in a Republic where one section is pinned to the other
section by bayonets." — New York Tribune.
IN THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM that elected Abraham Lincoln is
found :
* ' The inviolable rights of each State to order iand control
its own domestic institutions. ' '
CHARLES BEECHER STOWE, the son of Harriet Beecher Stowe,
said:
"When the South drew the sword to defend the doctrine
of States Rights and the institution of slavery, they cer
tainly had on their side the Constitution and the laws of
the land for the National Constitution justified the doc
trine of States Rights."
Again, CHARLES BEECHER STOWE said :
"Is it not perfectly evident that there was a great re
bellion, but the rebels were the men of the North, and the
men who defended the Constitution were the men of the
South, for they defended States Rights and slavery, which
were distinctly entrenched within the Constitution."
Timothy Pickering, of Massachusetts, was the first to threaten
secession.
Josiah Quincy, of Massachusetts, was the first to mention se
cession in Congressional Halls — 1811.
John Quincy Adams, of Massachusetts, was the first to peti
tion Congress to dissolve the Union.
Charles Francis Adams testified that there was no doubt but
that his grandfather, John Quincy Adams, believed that a State
had the right to secede.
NEW YORK HERALD, Nov. 11, 1860 :
"The South has an undeniable right to secede from the
Union. In the event of secession, the City of New York,
and the State of New Jersey, and very likely Connecticut
will separate from New England when the black man is put
on a pinnacle above the white."
GEORGE LUNT'S "Origin of the Late War":
"Despairing of their rights in the Union, the Southern
leaders advised the Southern States to throw themselves
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 7
back on their reserved rights and withdraw from the Union
— but it was too late.
"This could have been done in 1850 but not in 1861.
"No State has been more conspicuous in pressing the
claims of State Rights from the earliest period than Massa
chusetts. ' '
GEORGE LUNT :
* ' The maintenance of the authority of the Stats over mat
ters purely local is as essential to the preservation of our
institutions as is the conservation of the supremacy of the
Federal power in all matters entrusted to the nation by the
Federal Constitution.
"The power of the States to regulate their purely in
ternal affairs of such laws as seem wise to the local author
ity is inherent and has never been surrendered to the gen
eral government."
CHIEF JUSTICE DAY, in a Decision of the U. S. Supreme Court,
June 3, 1918 :
"If Congress can regulate matters entrusted to local au
thority, the power of the States may be eliminated and thus
our system of government be practically destroyed."
III.
The North Was Responsible for the War Between the States
AUTHORITY :
THE NEW YORK HERALD, April 7, 1861 :
"Unless Mr. Lincoln's administration makes the first
demonstration and attack, President Davis says there will
be no bloodshed. With Mr. Lincoln's administration, there
fore, rests the responsibility of precipitating a collision, and
the fearful evils of protracted war."
THE NEW YORK HERALD, April 5, 1861 :
"We have no doubt Mr. Lincoln wants the Cabinet at
Montgomery to take the initiative by capturing two forts
in its waters, for it would give him the opportunity of
throwing the responsibility of commencing hostilities. But
the country and posterity will hold him just as responsible
as if he struck the first blow. ' '
SHEPPARD'S "Life of Lincoln" :
"Please present my compliments to General Scott and
tell him confidentially to be prepared to hold or retake the
forts as the case may require after my inauguration. "-
Abraham Lincoln.
8 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
HORTON 's HISTORY, p. 71 :
* ' The withdrawal of the Southern States from the Union
was in no sense a declaration of war upon the Federal gov
ernment but the Federal government declared war on them,
as history will show."
GIDEON WELLES:
"There was not a man in the Cabinet that did not know
that an attempt to reinforce Sumter would be the first
blow of the war."
SEWARD said :
"Even preparation to reinforce will precipitate war."
STEPHEN DOUGLAS said:
"Lincoln is trying to plunge the country into a cruel war
as the surest means of destroying the Union upon the plea
of enforcing the laws and protecting public property."
ZACK CHANDLER wrote to Governor Blair:
"The manufacturing States think a war will be awful,
but without a little blood-letting the Union will not be worth
a curse."
GOVERNOR MOORE, of Alabama (Cousin & Hill, p. 371), says:
"I have had a conference with Secretary Mallory, of
Florida, and Secretary Fitzpatrick, of Alabama, in which
they informed me that they and Secretary Sidell had a
personal interview with the President and the Secretary of
Navy and were assured by them that no attack would be
made upon Fort Sumter and Fort Pickens or any excuse
given for the shedding of blood during the present admin
istration."
GENERAL BRAGG (0. R. I., p. 457), says:
"They have placed an engineer officer at Fort Pickens
to violate, as I consider, our agreement not to reinforce. I
do not believe that we are entirely absolved from all agree
ment of January 29."
HORTON 's HISTORY, p. 109:
"The first gun of the war was the gun put into that war
fleet that sailed against Charleston. The first gun fired at
Fort Sumter was the first gun in self-defense. This is the
simple fact stripped of all nonsensical with which it has
been surrounded by Abolitionists."
HOSMER, "History of the American Nation," Vol. XX, p. 20:
"The determination expressed by Lincoln in his Inaug
ural Address to hold, occupy and possess the property and
places belonging to the United States precipitated the out-
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 9
break, and his determination to collect duties and imports
was practically an announcement of an offensive war."
WILLIAM SEWARD said :
"The attempt to reinforce Sumter will provoke war. The
very preparation of such an expedition will precipitate war.
I would instruct Anderson to return from Sumter."
J. G. HOLLAND'S "Life of Lincoln":
"Up to the fall of Sumter Lincoln had no basis for ac
tion in the public feeling. After the fall of Sumter he
could act.'
"Most of Lincoln's ministers were against the reinforce
ment of Fort Sumter."
MEDILL, of the Chicago Tribune, says :
"In 1864 when the call for extra troops came Chicago
revolted. Chicago had sent 22,000 and was drained.
There were no young men to go, no aliens, except what was
already bought. The citizens held a mass meeting and
appointed three men of whom I (Medill) was one to go to
Washington and ask Stanton to give Cook County a new
enrollment. He refused. Then we went to President Lin
coln. 'I cannot do it,' said Lincoln, 'but I will go with you
to Stanton and hear the arguments on both sides.'
"So we went over to the War Department together.
Stanton and General Frye were there and they both con
tended that the quota should not be changed. The argu
ment went on for some time, and was finally referred to
Lincoln who had been silently listening. When appealed to,
Lincoln turned to us with a black and frowning face :
1 Gentlemen,' he said, with a voice full of bitterness, 'after
Boston, Chicago has been the chief instrument in bringing
this war on the country. The Northwest opposed the South,
as New England opposed the South. It is you, Medill, who
is largely responsible for making blood flow as it has. You
called for war until you had it. I have given it to you.
What you have asked for you have had. Now you come
here begging to be let off from the call for more men, which
I have made to carry on the war you demanded. You ought
to be ashamed of yourselves. Go home and raise your
6,000 men."--Tarbeirs "Life of Lincoln/' Vol. II., p. 144.
THE NEW YORK EXPRESS April 15, 1861, said :
"The people petitioned and pleaded, begged and im
plored Lincoln and Seward to be heard before matters
were brought to a blood extreme, but their petitions were
spurned and treated with contempt."
10 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
IN "The Opening of the Twentieth Century" these words are
found :
"The war was inaugurated by the North, and defended
on an unconstitutional basis."
/HALLAM 's ' ' Constitutional History ' ' :
"The aggressor in war is not the first who uses force, but
the first who renders force necessary."
BENJAMIN WILLIAMS, of Lowell, Massachusetts, said:
"The South was invaded and a war of subjugation was
begun by the Federal government against the seceding
States in amazing disregard of the foundation principle of
its existence — and the South accepts the contest forced
upon her with a courage characteristic of this proud-spirit
ed people.
"The North had no Constitutional right to hold Fort
Sumter in case the States seceded and to hold it meant war."
HORTON, pp. 71, 72:
"The forts in the South were partnership property; and
each State was an equal party in ownership. The Federal
government was only a general agent of the real partners —
the States — which composed the Union. The forts were de
signed to protect the States, and in case of withdrawal of a
State the forts went with the State.
"South Carolina could not deprive New York of her
forts, nor could New York deprive South Carolina of hers.
The seceding States were perfectly willing to settle matters
in a friendly way. They were striving only to resume the
powers they had delegated."
SENATOR JOSEPH LANE, of Oregon, in reply to Andrew Johnson
in regard to the Crittenden Resolution (Congressional Globe,
36th Congress, p. 1347), said:
"If there is, as I contend, a right for secession, then when
ever a State exercises that right this Government has no
laws to execute in that State, nor has it any property in
such State that can be protected by the power of that Gov
ernment. ' '
JOHN CODMAN ROPES, in his "Story of the Civil War/' says:
"The South claimed that she had the right to demand the
forts, arsenals and government property in her States —
these were her sovereign rights. If South Carolina had this
sovereign right to demand the surrender of the fort within
her jurisdiction, and it belonged to South Carolina as soon
as she resumed her sovereign right, then President Lincoln
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 11
had no right to hold it against her demand — nor to arm or
provision it by force. The U. S. Government could not
have erected it on South Carolina's soil without South Car
olina's consent, and the action of Lincoln was that of cen
tralized despotism. Governor Pickens sent I. W. Hayne,
the Attorney General of South Carolina, to President
Buchanan saying that the fort was necessary for the pro
tection of the State it was erected to protect — and that
South Carolina was willing to pay a full valuation in settle
ment between the State and the government."
JOHN CODMAN ROPES, in his "Story of the Civil War/' pp. 17,
18, again says:
"The States which seceded held, it must be remembered,
the theory that the United States was not a single nation,
but a collection of nations, which had for many years acted
for certain purposes through an agency known as the Gov
ernment of the United States. To this government tracts
of land had been ceded by the different States, that on them
might be erected light-houses, forts, arsenals, court-houses,
post offices, and the like, all subserving the general welfare,
and particularly, that of the State making the cession.
These buildings had all been erected at the public expense,
and by the general government. The munitions of war,
the money, the public property, contained in them belonged
to the general government as the agent of all the States
united. They were, so to speak, partnership property, and
the title to this property stood in the name of the agent of
all the parties belonging to the firm.
"If this view of the matter had been accepted, and the
right of the State to secede had been conceded there is no
doubt that it would have been generally granted that the
forts, arsenals, post offices and other public buildings lying
within the State which withdrew from the Union ought to
have been turned over to that State.
"The South knowing she had the right to secede took this
view of the question and seized the property."
WENDELL PHILLIPS said :
"Here are a series of States girding the Gulf which think
they should have an independent government : they have the
right to decide this question without appealing to you or
to me.
"Let the South go! Let her go with flags flying and
trumpets blowing! Give her her forts, her arsenals, and
her sub-treasuries. Speed the parting guest ! All hail do
minion ! Beautiful on the mountains are the feet of them
who bring the glad tidings of disunion."
12 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
SENATOR LANE, again says :
"No, Sir, the policy of this government is to inveigle the
people of the North into civil war by making the design in
smooth and ambiguous terms."
GEORGE LUNT says :
"The Relief Squadron which was twenty-three days get
ting ready at Norfolk (while the peace commissioners were
kept waiting in Washington) bore the aspect certainly of
a manoeuvre, which military persons denominate 'stealing
a march!' :
"History will record that the woes and sacrifices caused
by the war might have been saved by a little manliness on
the part of the Republican leaders at this time."
GEORGE LUNT, "Origin of Late War/' p. 485:
"The external aspect of the affair off Charleston which
precipitated the war is that of a boy 'spoiling for a fight'
who places a chip on the rim of his hat, and dares his com
petitor to knock it off."
PERCY GREGG, p. 158 :
"The Government was bound in honor to hand over to
the seceding States their fair share of armaments created
at common expense."
GEORGE LUNT :
"In 1833 there was a surplus revenue of many millions in
the public treasury which by an act of legislation unparal-
led in the history of nations was distributed among the
Northern States to be used for local public improvements."
PRESIDENT BUCHANAN, in his message to Congress, said :
"The South had not had her share of money from the
treasury, and unjust discrimination had been made against
her in coast defenses."
JOHN CODMAN ROPES, pp. 17 and 18 :
"For many years before 1860 the Federal Government
had all rifles and muskets manufactured near Troy, N. Y.,
to be deposited in Northern arsenals, so all the new guns
were in possession of the North. After the attack by John
Brown it was suggested that the South 's quota of arms
should be distributed, and Secretary Floyd then ordered
the guns sent to the arsenals at Charleston, S. C., and the
arsenals in North Carolina, Augusta, Ga., Mt. Vernon, Ala.,
and Baton Rouge, La. This was before Abraham Lincoln
was nominated. This was done by an act of the Federal
Government — not by any Southern statesman with any
thought of war."
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 13
The unpreparedness for war, when war came, shows that the
South did not even then receive anything like her just propor
tion.
SEE Congressional Records »
"It was a Pittsburg manufacturer that selfishly lobbied
a bill through Congress for cannon to arm the unfurnished
Southern forts. The bill was passed by the friends of the
iron founders, without the knowledge of or solicitation of
Secretary Floyd."
"Secretary Floyd simply obeyed Congress and ordered
the arms sent but Secretary Holt, hearing of it, stopped the
shipment, so the South never received the arms."
PERCY GREGG, p. 158, says :
"The Government was bound in honor to hand over to
the seceding States their full share of armaments created at
common expense."
IV.
The War Between the States Was Not Fought to Hold the
Slaves
AUTHORITY:
A RESOLUTION was passed unanimously by Congress July 23,
1861:
"The war is waged by the Government of the United
States, not in the spirit of conquest or subjugation, nor for
the purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights
or institutions of the states, but to defend and protect the
Union."
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, in his Inaugural Address :
' ' I have no purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with
the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I
believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no in
clination to do so."
GEORGE LUNT'S "Origin of the Late War," p. 432:
"A war simply for the abolition of slavery would not
have enlisted a dozen regiments at the North."
Unanswerable arguments will be found in the facts that a
slaveholder, General U. S. Grant, was placed in command of the
Union Army, and General Robert E. Lee who had freed his
14 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
slaves put in command of the Confederate forces. Two hun
dred thousand slaveholders only were in the Southern Army
while three hundred and fifteten thousand slaveholders were in
the Northern Army.
GENERAL GRANT (Democratic Speaker's Handbook, p. 33), said:
"Should I become convinced that the object of the Gov
ernment is to execute the wishes of the abolitionists, I
pledge you my honor as a man and a soldier I would re
sign my commission and carry my sword to the other side.
SIMON CAMERON, Lincoln's Secretary of War, wrote to General
Butler in New Orleans:
"President Lincoln desires the right to hold slaves to be
fully recognized. The war is prosecuted for the Union
hence no question concerning slavery will arise. ' '
GOVERNOR WILLIAM SPRAGUE, Rhode Island's war Governor,
said:
"We had to take a lot of abuse in return for an endorse
ment of Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.
We were hissed in the streets and denounced as traitors.."
JAMES FORD RHODES, Vol. IV, p. 73 :
' ' A large portion of our regular officers with many of the
volunteers evidence far more solicitude to uphold slavery
than to put down the rebellion."
PERCY GREGG:
"To say that the South seceded and fought to hold her
slaves is to accuse her of political imbecility."
CHANNING'S "Short History of the United States":
"The Union Army showed the greatest sympathy with
McClellan for the bold protest against emancipation. Five
States, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York
went against Lincoln on this account. While Lincoln felt
he could free the slaves as a war measure, he knew the
North would not approve of freeing them. ' '
GEORGE LUNT, "Origin of the Late War":
"Had not the Constitution provided for representation
and taxation based on slave labor, and for the restoration
of the fugitive slave there would have been no war — slavery
was only an incident out of which grew questions regard
ing State rights and rights of Territories seeking to become
States. But whether slavery was here rightfully or wrong-
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 15
fully it was here under the protection of the law and not
subject to be taken away by violence or any insidious device
of abstraction."
GEORGE LUNT again says, p. 10 (Introduction) :
' l In presenting the causes which led to the war, it will be
seen that slavery, though an occasion was not in reality the
cause of the war. ' '
GEORGE LUNT, p. XII, (Introduction) :
' ' Disregard of the rights of the South led to an unnatural
war, and the policy wrought an irreparable injury, if not
absolute ruin of the unhappy race they professed to love."
GEORGE LUNT, p. XI, (Introduction) :
"Anti-slavery was of no serious consequence until poli
ticians seized upon it as an instrument of agitation — an
alleged diversity of interests between the sections involving
political power."
CHASE, then Secretary of War under Lincoln, said :
"Not ivar upon slavery within those limits, but fixed op
position to its extension beyond them. Mr. Lincoln was the
candidate of the people not for abolition but as opposed to
the extension of slavery."
V.
Slaves Were Not Ill-Treated in the South. The North Was
Largely Responsible for Their Presence in the South.
AUTHORITY:
The servants were very happy in their life upon the old planta
tions. WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY, on a lecture tour in
America, visited a Southern plantation. In "Roundabout
Papers" he gives this impression of the slaves:
"How they sang ! How they danced ! How they laughed !
How they shouted ! How they bowed and scraped and com
plimented ! So free, so happy ! I saw them dressed on Sun
day in their Sunday best — far better dressed than our
English tenants of the working class are in their holiday
attire. To me, it is the dearest institution I have ever seen
and these slaves seem far better off than any tenants I have
seen under any other tenantry system."
MAJOR GENERAL QUITMAN of the United States Army thus de
scribed life on the "Old Plantation" in 1822 while stationed in
Mississippi :
The mansions of the planters are thrown open to all
comers and goers free of charge. The owner of this planta-
16 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
tion is the widow of a Virginia gentleman of distinction,
who was an officer in the last war with Great Britain.
"Her slaves are a happy, careless, unreflecting, good na-
tured race. They are strongly attached to 'old massa,' and
'old missus' ; but their devotion to 'young massa' and 'young
missus' amounts to enthusiasm. While in a way these slaves
appear to be free, they are very obedient and polite and
they do their work well.
"These 'niggers,' as you call them, are the happiest peo
ple I have ever seen. They are oily, sleek, bountifully fed,
well clothed and well taken care of. One hears them at all
times whistling and singing cheerily at their work
"But a negro will sleep — sleep at his work, sleep on his
carriage box, sleep standing up, sleep bare-headed in the
sun, and sleep sitting on a high rail fence. Yet, compared
with the ague-smitten and suffering settlers in Ohio, or the
sickly, half-starved operatives in the factories and mines of
the North and the Northeast, these Southern slaves are in
deed to be envied. They are treated with such great hu
manity and kindness."
CHAS. E. STOWE, the son of Harriet Beecher Stowe, in speaking
at a negro college, said :
"If you ask me if the slaves were better off under the in
stitution of slavery than they are under freedom, I must in
candor answer that some were — they were not fit for free
dom."
Again, he said :
"If slavery was an unutterably evil institution how can
you account for the faithfulness of the negroas on the plan
tations when the men were at the front, and no act of vio
lence known among them?"
AN EMINENT PENNSYLVANIA LAWYER said:
"An institution that could produce the Christian fidelity
of 'Uncle Tom,' the faithful tenderness of 'Aunt Chloe.' and
the patience and love of 'Eva's Mammy' must be indeed a
great one!"
AMERICAN AUTHORS, p. 492 :
"Slavery transformed the savage negro into a civilized
man ; it taught him to work, and showed him what could be
accomplished by the labor of his hands; and then it left
him as a free man with almost a monopoly of the field in
which he had been employed as a slave. In 1865 no other
body of negroes in the world occupied as advantageous a po
sition economically as those in the Southern States."
"After 100 years of Southern civilization, the North voted
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 17
him the equal of the white man socially and politically — a
marvelous tribute to the civilization of the Old South."
If African slavery was a sin, the Spaniards and English were
the sinners. It is true the slave trade in the United States was
begun by Massachusetts, and in the main carried on by her, not
as a private enterprise, but by the authority of the Plymouth
Rock Colony. (Colonial Entry Book, Vol. IV., p. 724)
The statute of establishing perpetual slavery was adopted by
Massachusetts, December, 1641. (Massachusetts Historical Col
lections, VIII., p. 231).
The slave ship Desire sailed from Marblehead, Mass., and was
the first to sail from any English colony in America to capture
Africans.
The first State to legislate in favor of the slave trade was
Massachusetts.
The first State to urge a fugitive slave law was Massachusetts.
(Moore's History of Slavery).
The last State to legislate against the slave trade was Massa
chusetts. The British Encyclopedia says New Jersey.
The last slave ship to sail from the United States was the
Nightingale from Massachusetts in 1861. She secured a cargo of
900 Africans, and was captured by the Saratoga under Captain
Guthrie, April 21, 1861, after Fort Sumter had been fired on.
There is no record that any punishment followed this violation
of the law.
"The Cradle of Liberty," Fanueil Hall, in Boston, was built
by Peter Faneuil, its owner, from slave trade money.
Girard College, in Philadelphia, was built by Stephen Girard
with money made by African slaves on a Louisiana plantation.
The slaveholder has been accused of cruelty in separating
mother and child on the slave block. The selling of slaves in the
South did not separate mother and child as often or with such
cruelty as did the slave traffic in Africa — as did the hiding of
the fugitive slave from their owners — as did the "Exodus Or
der" in Reconstruction days.
White slavery in the North today is responsible for far more
evils than ever came from the institution of slavery in the South.
The Southern planter has been accused of cruelty to his slaves
— no cruelty on the part of any overseer can compare to that of
18 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
the middle passage on the slave ships, where, on that long voy
age, they were huddled as standing cattle and suffered from hun
ger and thirst so that they died by the hundreds, or cast them
selves overboard.
Let it be remembered that no Southern man ever owned a
slave ship. No Southern man ever commanded a slave ship.
No Southern man ever went to Africa for slaves.
General Lee said, " There was no doubt that the blacks were
immeasurably better off here than they were in Africa — morally,
physically and socially." He thought the freeing of them
should be left in God's hands and not be settled by tempestuous
controversy.
The South has been vilified for not educating the negro in the
days of slavery.
The South was giving to the negro the best possible education
—that education that fitted him for the workshop, the field, the
church, the kitchen, the nursery, the home. This was an educa
tion that taught the negro self-control, obedience and persever
ance — yes, taught him to realize his weaknesses and how to grow
stronger for the battle of life. The institution of slavery as it
was in the South, so far from degrading the negro, was fast
elevating him above his nature and his race.
No higher compliment was ever paid the institution of slavery
than that by the North, which was willing to make the negro its
social and political equal after one hundred years of civilization
under Southern Christianizing influence. Never has it been
recorded in history such rapid civilization from savagery to
Christian citizenship.
The black man ought to thank the institution of slavery — the
easiest road that any slave people have ever passed from savagery
to civilization with the kindest and most humane masters. Hun
dreds of thousands of the slaves in 1865 were professing Chris
tians and many were partaking of the communion in the church
of their masters. — "Civilization of the Old South/' Historian-
General, U. D. C., Dallas, Texas.
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 19
Coercion Was Not Constitutional
AUTHORITY :
WILLIAM SEWARD to London Times Correspondent, Mr. Russell,
April 4, 1861 :
"It would be contrary to the spirit of the American Gov
ernment to use force to subjugate the South."
MR. SEWARD to Charles Francis Adams, Sr., Minister to Eng
land, April 10, 1861 :
"Only a despotic and imperial government car Coerce
seceding States."
EDWARD EVERETT:
"To try to hold fifteen States to the Union is preposter
ous."
PRESIDENT JAMES BUCHANAN to Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary
of War :
"There is no power under the Constitution to coerce a
seceding State."
THE NEW YORK HERALD :
' ' The day before Fort Sumter was surrendered two-thirds
of the newspapers in the North opposed coercion in any
shape or form, and sympathized with the South. Three-
fifths of the entire American people sympathized with the
South. Over 200,000 voters opposed coercion and believed
the South had a right to secede."
"The Journal of Commerce fought coercion until the
United States mail refused to carry its papers in 1861."
CHARLES SUMNER said :
"Nothing can possibly be so horrible, so wicked or so
foolish as a war against the South. ' '
JAMES S. THAYER, of New York, on January 21, 1861, said :
"If the incoming Administration shall attempt to carry
out a line of policy which has been foreshadowed, and con
struct a scaffold for coercion — another name for execution
—we will reverse the order of the French Revolution and
save the blood of the people by making those who would in
augurate a 'Reign of Terror' the first victim of a national
guillotine." (Enthusiastic applause).
20 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
CHARLES BEECHER STOWE said:
''Many patriotic men of the South who cared little or
nothing about slavery were stirred with the deepest indig
nation at the suggestion of the National government sub
duing a sovereign State by force of arms, and said that a
Union that could only be held together by bayonets had bet
ter be dissolved; and for the principle of State rights and
State sovereignty the Southern men fought with a holy
ardor and self-denying patriotism that have covered even
defeat with imperishable glory. ' '
JAMES BUCHANAN'S MESSAGE, December 3, 1860:
"Congress may possess many means of preserving the
Union by conciliation, but the sword was not placed in its
hand to preserve it by force. ' '
LINCOLN, when asked how he could advocate coercion, replied:
"What is to become of my revenue in New York if there
is a ten per cent, tariff at Charleston ? ' '
GEORGE LUNT :
"The majority in the North believed that Lincoln had
no right to coerce the States."
IN THE AMERICAN STATESMEN SERIES, Morse in Vol. II., "Life
of Abraham Lincoln/' says:
"History is crowded with tales of despots, but of no
despot who thought or decided with the taciturn independ
ence which marked this president of the Free American
Republic in regard to coercing seceding States."
IN THE PLATFORM of the Republican Party is found this state
ment:
"We denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the
soil of any State or Territory, no matter what pretext, as
among the gravest crimes. ' '
SENATOR TRUMBULL, of Illinois, the special expositor of Mr. Lin
coln's views, said in a speech in the Senate:
"Congress adjourned without taking action on coercion,
showing, of course, the prevalent opinion on the Constitu
tional question." (Carpenter's "Logic of History," p. 50).
HORACE GREELEY, "American Conflict," p. 513:
" There was not a moment when a large portion of the
Northern Democracy were not hostile to any form or shade .
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 21
of coercion. Many openly condemned and stigmatized a
war on the South as atrocious, unjustifiable, and ag
gressive."
EX-GOVERNOR REYNOLDS, Illinois, December 28, 1860 :
"I am heart and soul with the South. She is right in
principle from the Constitution."
VII.
The Federal Government Was Responsible for the Anderson-
ville Horrors
AUTHORITY :
CHARLES A. DANA, Assistant Secretary of War, said :
' ' We think after the testimony given that the Confederate
authorities and especially Mr. Davis ought not to be held
responsible for the terrible privations, suffering, and in
juries which our men had to endure while kept in Confed
erate Military Prisons, the fact is unquestionable that while
Confederates desired to exchange prisoners, to send our
men home, and to get back their own men, General Grant
steadily and strenuously resisted such an exchange." — New
York Sun.
GENERAL BUTLER said :
"The reason for this was that the exchange of prisoners
would strengthen Lee's army and greatly prolong the war."
GENERAL GRANT said :
"Not to take any steps by which an able-bodied man
should be exchanged until orders were received from him."
Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton's statistics testify that
while there were fifty thousand more of prisoners in Southern
prisons than in Northern, the mortality among Southern men in
Northern prisons was far greater.
GENERAL GRANT, again, said :
If we hold these men caught they are no more than dead
men. If we liberate them we will have to fight on until the
whole South is exterminated."
This agrees with GENERAL LEE'S testimony (Official Records War
of the Rebellion] :
"I offered General Grant to send into his lines all of the
22 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
prisoners within my Department provided he would return
man for man. When I notified the Confederate authorities
of my proposition, I was told if accepted they would gladly
place at my disposal every man in our Southern prisons. I
also made this offer to the Committee of the United States
Sanitary Commission — but my propositions were not ac
cepted/'
There was never any trouble about lack of provisions at An-
dersonville, as has been so often stated. There was an abundant
supply of the rations that the soldiers and prisoners needed, but
the trouble came because of the over-crowded condition of the
stockade. It was made for 10,000 and in four months 29,000
were sent.
There were 6,000 sick in the hospitals at one time and no med
icine — the first time in the history of wars when medicine was
made contraband of war.
MEDICINE CONTRABAND OF WAR. (See Dr. Gardner's testimony).
"The United States government early declared by procla
mation or order all medicines, surgical instruments and ap
pliances contraband of war, and they were so regarded to
the end of the struggle.
* * The ill temper and inhumanity of the time in the North
extended even to the medical profession, as evidenced at the
convention of the American Medical Association, held in
Chicago, in 1863, when Dr. Gardner, of New York, intro
duced preamble and resolutions petitioning the Northern
government to repeal the orders declaring medical and sur
gical appliances contraband of war; arguing that such cru
elty rebounded on their own soldiers, many of whom, as
prisoners in the hands of the Confederates, shared the suf
fering resulting from such a policy, while the act itself was
worthy the dark ages of the world's history. It is lament
able to have to record that this learned and powerful asso
ciation of the medical men then limited to the North, for
getful of the noble and unselfish teachings of the healing
art, in their senseless passion hissed their benevolent brother
from the hall.
"The Northern government also resisted all efforts to
effect a satisfactory agreement regarding the exchange of
prisoners; only closing its eyes and pretending not to be
aware of the informal agreements of opposing generals in
the field as to the exchange of prisoners in their hands, re
spectively, till July 22, 1862, when a general cartel was
agreed upon by the two governments, but which was never
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 23
carried out satisfactorily, and, in 1864, was practically sus
pended altogether ; so that even the great prisons became in
adequate for the increased demands upon them. Had there
been satisfactory agreement and good faith in carrying out
the cartels, Andersonville would not have been established,
and there would have been avoided that distressing calam
ity ; and the effort which grew out of it to blacken the char
acter of President Davis, and the persecution of Major
Henry Wirz, and his cruel execution by hanging. Justice
has never been done that noble heroism which resisted and
spurned the base and formidable bribe of life and liberty,
and held fast to the truth. The Southern people should ever
hold his memory dear."
There were not enough vessels in which the food could be
properly prepared and served, and the Confederate authorities
were powerless, for they could not obtain these vessels to supply
the need.
GENERAL BUTLER says on pp. 593, 594 of his book :
If the Confederates should be released and should join
Lee they would probably bring failure to General Grant's
operations. If on the other hand, they were released and
should join Sherman they would turn the scales against
him."
In other words it was safer to allow the soldiers to remain
in Confederate pens, no matter how great their suffering, than
to liberate those Confederates.
GEORGE SHEA in a letter to the New York Tribune, January 24,
1876, said :
"Mr. Horace Greeley received a letter from Mrs. Jefferson
Davis June 22, 1865, imploring him to bring about a speedy
trial of her husband upon the charge of assassination of
President Lincoln, and the supposed cruelties at Anderson
ville Prison."
A public trial was prayed in order that the accusations might
be publicly met, and her husband speedily vindicated.
CHARLES A. DANA, Assistant Secretary of War, said in the New
York Sun:
Mr. Greeley came to my residence and placed the letter in
my hands, saying he personally did not believe the charge
of complicity in the assassination of Lincoln to be true, and
that Mr. Davis could be released.
24 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
"We called Mr. Greeley's attention to the charge against
Mr. Davis of cruel treatment of Union soldiers at Anderson-
ville.
* ' There was a general opinion among the gentlemen of the
Republican party that Mr. Davis did not by thought or act
participate in a conspiracy against Mr. Lincoln, and none
were more emphatic than Mr. Thaddeus Stevens.
"The only remaining charge, then, was the cruel treat
ment of the Andersonville prisoners, so at the suggestion of
Mr. Greeley, Mr. Wilson and Mr. Stevens, I went to
Canada to examine the official archives of the Confederate
States. From these documents, not meant for public eyes,
but used in secret session, it was evident that Mr. Davis
was not guilty of that charge. I reported this at once to
Mr. Greeley.
On November 9, 1866, this notice, evidently written by
him, appeared in The Tribune:
" 'Eighteen months have nearly elapsed since Jefferson
Davis was made a State prisoner. He has been publicly
charged with conspiracy to assassinate President Lincoln
and $100,000 offered for his capture upon this charge. The
capture was made, and the money paid, yet no attempt has
been made by the government to procure an indictment on
this charge. He has been charged with the virtual murder
of Union soldiers while prisoners of war at Andersonville —
but no official attempt has been made to indict him on this
charge.
" 'A great government may deal sternly with offenders,
but not meanly; it cannot afford to seem unwilling to re
pair an obvious wrong."
CHAS A. DANA, New York Sun:
"It was not Jefferson Davis or any subordinate or asso
ciate of his who should now be condemned for the horrors
of Andersonville. We were responsible ourselves for the
continued detention of our captives in misery, starvation and
sickness in the South."
MR. DANA again says:
"Of the charge of cruelty to our prisoners so often
brought against Mr. Davis, and reiterated by Mr. Blaine in
his speech in the United States Senate, we think Mr. Davis
must be held altogether acquitted."
DR. KERR, in an address in New Orleans, said:
"Thirteen of the acts of cruelty which convicted Captain
Wirz were committed when he was sick in bed and some one
else was in charge of the prisoners."
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 25
DR. E. A. FLEWELLEN, who was sent by the Federal authorities
to inspect the Andersonville prison told Dr. Kerr, the Con
federate surgeon in charge, that he was
"Most pleasantly impressed with Captain Wirz as an of
ficer, and so reported to the Federal authorities, but as I
heard nothing from this report supposed it suffered the fate
of other papers belonging to the office of the surgeon gen
eral."
He further said :
"I was present at Wirz's trial and can affirm every state
ment you made in your address at New Orleans as to the
unfairness of the proceedings, and shall never cease to have
a contempt for the president and judge advocate of that
court martial for their efforts to intimidate the witnesses
and pervert the truth, and for the disrespect shown to
Wirz's only attorney, Louis Schade."
Dr. Kerr says that Wirz was called hard-hearted and cruel,
but he has seen the tears streaming down his face when in the
hospitals watching the sufferings of those men. Not a man ever
died that he did not see that his grave was distinctly marked so
that his mother could come and claim that body.
If the soldiers hated Wirz, as was said in the trial, why did
they not kill him, for they had ample opportunity, as he never
went armed. He did not even carry a pocket knife. He once
laughingly said to Dr. Kerr that he had an old rusty pistol, but
it would not shoot.
Six paroled prisoners drew up some resolutions when they
returned from Washington, exonerating the Confederate author
ities of all blame connected with the horrors of Andersonville
prison life, and testifying to the fact that the insults received
at Secretary Stanton's hands were far harder to bear than any
thing they ever had suffered at Andersonville. See Page's
"True History of Andersonville"}.
James Madison Page, a prisoner at Andersonville, wrote a
book exonerating Captain Wirz and the Confederate authori
ties. Some of the prisoners sent a letter with a watch which
they presented to Captain Wirz as a token of their appreciation
of his kind treatment of them. Mrs. Perrin, Wirz's daughter,
has many testimonials of this kind.
There was never any trouble about lack of provisions at An-
26 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
dersonville, as has been so often stated. There was an abund
ant supply of the rations that the soldiers and prisoners needed,
but the trouble came because of the over-crowded condition of
the stockade.
There were many bad men among the prisoners called ''bounty
jumpers," and they were killed by their own men, yet Captain
Wirz was accused of their murder. Dr. Kerr said when Captain
Wirz paroled those six prisoners to send them North to plead
for an exchange, he turned to him and said, "I wish I could
parole the last one of them." At the surrender he went to
Macon, relying on the honor of General Wilson's parole. Im
agine his surprise when he was arrested. He was taken to trial,
condemned upon suborned testimony and hanged November 6,
1865. That was the foulest blot in American history, and Mrs.
Surratt's death for complicity with John Wilkes Booth may be
placed beside it.
If any one questions the truth of these facts, they can be
found verified in the volumes called the ''War of the Rebellion,"
in the Congressional Library in Washington, D. C., put there by
the United States authorities.— Series 2, Vols. IV., V., and VIII.,
and Series 3, Vol. V., and Page's "True Story of Andersonville
Prison."
HERMAN A. BRAUM, of Milwaukee, Wis., who was also a prisoner
at Andersonville, after paying a tribute to Captain Wirz and
exonerating the Confederate authorities, says :
"I believe that there is nothing so well calculated to
strengthen the faith in popular government as the example
given by the Confederacy during the war, its justice, hu
manity and power. On this rests the historic fame of Jef
ferson Davis.
"In vain did the Confederate government urge an ex
change of prisoners. Union generals and Union civilians
agreed that it would never do to let these Rebs go back to
the firing line."
General Ben F. Butler says (see "Butler's Book," pp. 592-
3-4), that General U. S. Grant and he held a conference at
Fortress Monroe, April, 1864, on this very matter.
Major Robert Ould, Confederate States Commissioner of Ex
change, was then at the mouth of James River on the C. S.
Steamer, Roanoke, for the purpose of arranging for the delivery
and exchange of prisoners.
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 27
At the conference between Generals Grant and Butler it was
finally decided that they would agree to accept such Union cap
tives as the Confederates might see fit to surrender, but that no
Confederate prisoners would be delivered in return!
GENERAL BUTLER was a man who, in many respects, was bru
tally frank and fearless, and he put on record the reason why
General Grant and himself refused the offer to exchange :
* ' Many a tribute has been paid to the soldier of the South
by those for whom he fought, by those of the same blood
and faith, by those who gloried in his splendid courage and
pitied his terrible sufferings; but the highest compliment
that ever was paid to the tattered and half-starved wearer
of the gray was that of the Commander-in-chief of the
Union armies who, in a council of war, took the ground that
the Confederate prisoner was too dangerous to be ex
changed."
VIII.
The Republican Party That Elected Abraham Lincoln Was
Not Friendly to the South
AUTHORITY:
WENDELL PHILLIPS:
"The Republican party is in no sense a National party;
it is a party pledged to work for the downfall of Democracy,
the downfall of the Union, and the destruction of the United
States Constitution. The religious creed of the party was
hate of Democracy, hate of the Union, hate of the Consti
tution, and hate of the Southern people."
Again, he says :
"The Republican party is the first sectional party ever
organized in this country. It does not know its own face
and calls itself National, but it is not National, it is sec
tional. It is the party of the North pledged against the
South. It was organized with hatred of the Constitution.
"The Republican party that elected Abraham Lincoln is
pledged to the downfall of the Union and the destruction
of the United States Constitution.
"William Lloyd Garrison believed in the Constitutional
right to hold slaves, and said the Union must be dissolved
to free them.
"He believed in the Constitutional right of secession, so
was willing to publicly burn the Constitution to destroy
28 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
that right and called it 'a compact with death and a league
with hell. ' :
CHARLES BEECHER STOWE said:
"The party that elected Abraham Lincoln was a party
avowedly hostile to the institution of slavery."
Had they not heard him say in his address at Cooper Insti
tute that :
"The anti-slavery sentiment had already caused more
than a million votes which could only be seen by Southern
States to mean a danger and menace. Consequently when
they drew the sword to defend the doctrine of States rights
and the institution of slavery, they certainly had on their
side the Constitution and the laws of the land, for the Na
tional Constitution justified the doctrine of State rights."
R. G. HORTON, in his "A .Youth's History of the Civil War/'
(Pubs., Van Evrie & Horton Co., N. Y., 1867, p. IV), says:
"Mr. Lincoln assumed the dictatorship, overthrew the
government as it was formed by issuing a military edict or
decree which changed the fundamental law of the land, and
declared that he would maintain this by all the military and
naval power of the United States."
GEORGE LUNT says, on page 369 :
"Mr. Lincoln, finding a geographical party in the pro
cess of formation, allowed himself to be placed at its head,
and encouraged its action by that sectional declaration, 'I
believe this government cannot permanently endure half
slave and half free.' That expression gave hope to the
abolitionists, and defeated Stephen Douglas."
BENJAMIN F. WADE, a Senator from Ohio in 1860, and he did
not love the South, said :
"I do not blame the people of the South for seceding for
the men of that party about to take the reins of government
in their hands are her mortal foes, and stand ready to
trample her institutions under feet."
JUDGE WILLIAM DUER, of Oswego, New York, August 6, 1860,
said:
"The Republican party is a conspiracy under the form,
but in violation of the spirit of the Constitution of the
United States to exclude the citizens of slaveholding States
from all sharing in the government of the country, and to
compel them to adapt their institutions to the opinions of
the citizens of the free States."
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 29
GEORGE LUNT says, again, on p. 359 :
"The nomination of Mr. Lincoln was purely accidental,
and that he was a sectional candidate upon merely sectional
grounds none can deny and for the first time in the history
of the republic, a candidate was thus presented for the
suffrages of its citizens. ' '
MR. RAYMOND, in the New York Times, says:
"His election was more by shouts and applause which
dominated the convention than from any direct labors of
any of the delegates." — Boston Courier, May 26, 1860.
GEORGE LUNT :
Judge Jessup's amendment openly professed the party
to be sectional."
STEPHEN DOUGLAS, in his letter to Mr. Hayes, December 27,
1860, said :
"Many Republicans desire a dissolution of the Union and
urge war as a means of accomplishing dissolution. ' '
Again Mr. Douglas, February 2, 1861, said :
"The leaders of the Republican party are striving to
break up the Union under pretense of unbounded devotion
to it. Hostility to slavery on the part of the disunionists
is stronger than fidelity to the Constitution. ' '
HORTON again says :
"I shall stress that this war was not waged by the North
to preserve the Union, or to maintain Republican institu
tions, but to destroy both.
"It will be seen that the war changed the entire character
and system of our government, overthrew the rights of
States, and forced amendments against the action of the
people."
R. G. HORTON, again, said, p. 51 of his "Youth's History of the
Civil War":
"At the very time the abolitionists were preaching a mad
crusade against the Union, and educating a generation to
hate the government of our fathers, Southern men, the great
leaders of the South, were begging and imploring that the
Union might be preserved. ' '
The Cincinnati Enquirer, January 15, 1881, said :
"Republican hate has blasted the fair heritage of our
fathers. The prediction made two years before Daniel
30 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
Webster 's death has literally come true. He said : * If these
fanatics (abolitionists) ever get the power in their own
hands they will override the Constitution, set the Supreme
Court at defiance, change and make laws to suit themselves,
lay violent hands on them who differ in opinion, or who
dare question their fidelity, and finally deluge the country
with blood."
IX.
The South Desired Peace and Made Every Effort to Obtain It
AUTHORITY :
THE MISSISSIPPI CONVENTION sent a commissioner to Maryland
and when asked what was the intention of the Southern States
by secession, (Shaffner's "Secession War," London., 1862),
he replied:
"Secession is not intended to break up the present gov
ernment, but to perpetuate it. Our plan is to withdraw from
the Union in order to allow amendments to the Constitu
tion to be made, guaranteeing our just rights. If the North
ern States will not make these amendments — then we must
secure them ourselves by a government of our own."
LORD CHARNWOOD'S "Life of Lincoln":
"This madness appeared when the Congress met in De
cember, 1860. In order to allay the apprehensions of the
Southern people regarding the purposes of the party just
ready to come into power, the Southern members offered
resolution after resolution looking to tranquility. These
resolutions were all rejected by the House of Representa
tives.
"Then was offered in the Senate the celebrated 'Critten-
den Compromise,' yielding all that the North demanded in
regard to exclusion of slavery from the Territories, but in
sisting that the Constitution be respected as to fugitive
slaves, and that the Constitution be maintained and its pro
vision be kept as adjudicated by the Supreme Court of the
land. The South made no new request ; it went not outside
of the Constitution. It rested its case on the Constitution
and on its interpretation by the highest court of the land.
It was strictly loyal to the Constitution.
Why wais the Crittenden Compromise rejected? Be
cause Mr. Lincoln willed it. He wrote letters to his party
leaders to defeat it. He said 'he had no compromises to
make with the South. ' The idea was that he had triumphed
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 31
and that triumph meant no surrender in any respect of the
new policies.
"It was a tragic day when the Crittenden Compromise
was defeated. Not a single Republican voted for it.
The Crittenden Resolutions were a most generous proposition
from the South to allow out of the 1,200,000 square miles of
territory acquired by conquest and purchase, 900,000 square
miles for free territory and the remaining 300,000 square miles
to be free or slave as each new State formed might choose, and
this, too, when Southern prowess had largely gained the terri
tory. These resolutions in the interest of peace were offered by
Northern and Southern Democrats. Lincoln notified all Re
publican States through Senators Harlan and Zach Chandler
to vote against these resolutions. Had he not done this they
would have passed. Unjust as they were to the South, the
South would have accepted them, and Thurlow Weed and Seward
would have seen that they were passed by the North. It was
Lincoln's fault they were rejected. George Lunt said Lincoln
later acknowledged that he regretted this.
Again Lord Charnwood said:
"Senator Chandler, of Michigan, had telegraphed to the
Governor of Michigan to send delegates to the Peace Con
gress, 'but to send stiff-necked men or none — for without a
little blood letting the Union will not be worth saving.' "
GEORGE LUNT, p. 423, says:
"The propositions of the Peace Conference evidently
formed a sound basis for settlement of the controversy.
These resolutions were introduced by Mr. Crittenden, of
Kentucky, and had they been adopted, they would have
saved the country from its coming trials. On the commit
tee of thirteen reporting these resolutions were Jefferson
Davis, of Mississippi ; Mr. Hunter, of Virginia ; Robert
Toombs, of Georgia ; five from slave States — eight from
free States. General Toombs reported to his constituents
in Georgia that the Black Republican solidly voted against
the resolutions. Mr. Douglas, in the Senate, said: 'Every
member from the South including Messrs. Davis and
Toombs, from the Cotton States, expressed a willingness to
accept the resolutions as a final settlement of the contro
versy. Hence the responsibility of our disagreement, and
the only difficulty in the way of an amicable adjustment is
with the Republican parHv ' (Soo Congressional Globe,
Appendix 1800-61, p. 41).
32 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
"Mr. Toombs, in the Senate, said there were some condi
tions he would prefer, but for the sake of peace — perma
nent peace — he would accept them."
Mr. Pugh, of Ohio, said he had heard the senator from
Mississippi (afterwards President Davis) before leaving
the Senate Chamber say he would accept it to maintain
the Union. There is no doubt but that a two-thirds vote
would have saved the Union."
When it came to a final vote every Republican voted against
them except Mr. Seivard ivho refused to vote at all. The resolu
tions were lost by a vote of 20 to 19. How could peace have
been brought about?
MR. DIXON, of Connecticut, in 1860, had the true idea. He said :
"The true way to restore harmony is by cheerfully and
honestly assuring every section its Constitutional rights.
No section professes to ask more; no section ought to offer
less."
MR. BROWN, a personal friend and colleague of Jefferson Davis,
of Mississippi, replied :
"If that same spirit could prevail which actuates the
senator from Connecticut, who has just taken his seat, a
different state of things might be produced in twenty days."
THE REJECTION of the Crittenden Resolutions created a crisis:
"The Southern leaders then called a conference. What
was to be done ? All their proposals of compromise, look
ing to peace, tranquility, security within the Union, had
failed. They asked each other: 'What is the purpose of
this anti-South party? What means the rejection of our
compromises? Why did Mr. Lincoln discountenance any
compromise? What means this secession from the Consti
tution? This refusal to abide by the decisions of the United
States Supreme Court? What means Mr. Lincoln's atti
tude in opposing the Crittenden Compromise?'
"Despairing of their rights within the Union, the South
ern leaders advised the Southern States to throw themselves
back on their reserved rights and withdraw from the Union.
But it was too late. It could have been done in 1S50, but
not in 1861. From 1850 to 1860 the North had educated
the people of the North out of the Jefferson theory of State
rights. ' ' — George Lunt.
SECOND PEACE CONGRESS, Ex-President John Tyler, President,
Washington, D. C. :
"Virginia did not act at the time with the Southern
THE TRUTHS O;F HISTORY 33
States that organized the Confederacy, but called a 'Peace
Conference.' Twenty-one States responded to the call.
The venerable John Tyler, ex-President of the United
States, was chosen president. They met in Washington
on February 4, 1861. But Salmon P. Chase, to be the Sec
retary of the Treasury under the new administration, was
there as the representative of Mr. Lincoln and the new vic
torious party. His speech destroyed all hope of any recon
ciliation. He refused all compromises, and said Northern
States would never fulfill that part of the Constitution in
regard to fugitive slaves, and that the decision of the Su
preme Court would not be abided. The failure of this con
ference was a great disappointment, especially to Virginia.
Mr. Lincoln took the same stand as he did regarding the
Crittenden Compromise." — Lord Charnwood's "L/ife of
Lincoln."
JUDGE SALMON P. CHASE in Peace Congress :
1 ' I must tell you further that under no inducements what
ever will we consent to surrender a principle which we be
lieve to be sound, and so important as that of restricting
slavery within State limits."
And again he said :
"The people of the free States who believe that slavery
is wrong cannot and wall not aid in returning runaway
slaves and the law becomes a dead letter."
Now, this was in defiance of the decision of the Supreme
Court in the Dred Scott case.
SECRETARY CHASE announced that:
"The Republican party would concede nothing in regard
to slave extension in the Territories, and the Northern
States would never fulfill their Constitutional obligations."
(There was nothing to do but to adjourn).
THE third attempt was when the Peace Commissioners were sent
from the Confederate government with this message :
"The undersigned are instructed to make to the Govern
ment of the United States overtures for the opening of ne
gotiations, assuring the Government of the United States
that the President, Congress, and people of the Confeder
ate States earnestly desire a peaceful solution of these great
questions; that it is neither their interest nor their wish to
make any demand which is not founded in strictest justice,
nor do any act to injure their late Confederates."
34 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
A peaceful spirit would have kept peace — who was responsi
ble for the answer ?
HAMPTON ROADS CONFERENCE the last:
"At Hampton Roads, Lincoln refused to accept any pro
posals except unconditional surrender. He promised
clemency but refused to define it, except to say that he in
dividually favored compensation for slave owners, and that
he would execute the confiscation and other penal acts with
the utmost liberality. He made it plain throughout that he
was fighting for an idea, and that it was useless to talk of
compromise until that idea was triumphant. We are aware,
of course, of that long-exploded myth telling how he offered
Stephens a sheet of paper with 'Union' written on it, and
told the Confederate statesman to fill up the rest of the
paper to suit himself. 'He offered us nothing but uncon
ditional submission,' says Stephens on his return, and he
called the conference, therefore, fruitless and inadequate. "
— New York Times.
Abraham Lincoln testifies the same. See Lincoln's Message to
House, Feb. 10, 1865; "War of the Rebellion," Series 1, Vol.
XL VI, p. 505; Lincoln's Instructions to Seward, Jan. 31, 1865;
"Life of Lincoln," Nicolay & Hay, Vol X.; Se ward's Letter to
Charles Francis Adams; "War of Rebellion," Series III, Vol.
IV., pp. 1163-1164.
X.
The Policy of the Northern Army Was to Destroy Property —
That of the Southern Army to Protect It
AUTHORITY:
SHERIDAN 's OFFICIAL REPORT :
"I have burned two thousand barns filled with wheat
and corn, all the mills in the whole country, destroyed all
the factories of cloth, killed or driven off every animal,
even the poultry that could contribute to human sustenance.
"Nothing should be left in the Shenandoah but eyes to
lament the war."
SHERMAN'S Memoirs:
"It will not be necessary to sow salt on the site of Charles
ton after the Fifteenth Corps has done its work."
"One hundred million dollars of damage has been done
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 35
to Georgia ; $20,000,000 inured to our benefit, the remainder
simply waste and destruction."
" On General Howell Cobb's plantation I told my men to
spare nothing."
"I'll not restrain the army lest its vigor and energy be
impaired." (p. 185).
"In South Carolina I kindled my fire with an old mantel
clock, and a piece of a handsome old bedstead." (p. 225).
"Orders to kill Jeff Davis and his Cabinet on the spot"
were found on the person of Dahlgren in Richmond, Va.
Lord Palmerson in the British House of Commons took oc
casion to express deepest indignation at General Butler's in
famous order No. 28 against the ladies of New Orleans.
GENERAL GRANT to Hunter in the Shenandoah Valley, Vir
ginia :
"Nothing shall be left to invite the enemy to return."
1 "City Point, July 14, 1864.
" 'Major-General Halleck, Washington, D. C.
" 'If the enemy has left Maryland, as I suppose he has,
he should have upon his heels veterans, militiamen, men on
horseback, and everything that can be got to follow to eat
out Virginia clear and clean as they go, so that the crows
flying over it will have to carry their provender with them.
"(Signed) U. S. GRANT,
" 'Lieutenant-General.' "
" 'City Point, August 26, 1864.
" 'Major-General Sheridan, Halltown, Va. :
" 'Do all the damage to railroads and crops you can.
Carry off stock of all descriptions and negroes, so as to pre
vent further planting. We want the Shenandoah Valley
to remain a barren waste.
" '(Signed) U. S. GRANT,
" 'Lieutenant-General.' :
" 'Headquarters Middle Military Division,
" 'Harrisburg, Sept. 28, 1864, 10:30 p. m.
" 'Brig.-Gen. W. Merritt, Commanding First Cavalry Di
vision :
" 'General: The general commanding directed that you
leave a small force to watch Swift Run and Brown Gap and
with balance of your command and Custer's Division to
swing around through or near Piedmont, extending toward
and as near Staunton as possible. Destroy all mills, all
grain, and ail forage you can and drive off or kill all stock
and otherwise carry out instructions of Lieutenant-General
36 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
Grant, an extract of which is sent you and which means
'leave a barren waste.'
" ' (Signed) JAMES W. FORSYTE,
" 'Lieut.-Col. and Chief of Staff to General Sheridan.' "
" 'Headquarters of the Army, Washington, D. C,,
11 'December 18, 1864.
" 'Major-General Sherman, Savannah:
" 'Should you capture Charleston, I hope that by some
accident the place may be destroyed; and if a little salt
should be sown upon the site, it may prevent the growth of
future crops of nullification and secession.
" '(Signed) W. H. HALLECK,
" 'Chief of Staff'
" 'Field Headquarters of the Military Division of
the Mississippi, Savannah, December 24, 1864.
" 'Major-General W. H. Halleck, Chief of Staff, Wash
ington, D. C. :
" 'I will bear in mind your hint as to Charleston, and I
do not think 'salt' will be necessary. When I move, the
Fifteenth Corps will be on the right of the right wing, and
their postiion will bring them into Charleston first ; and if
you have watched the history of this corps, you will have
remarked that it generally does its work pretty well.
" 'The truth is, the whole army is burning with an insa
tiable desire to wreak vengeance upon South Carolina. I
almost tremble at her fate, but feel that she deserves all
that seems in store for her. We must make old and young,
rich and poor, feel the hard hand of war as well as their
organized armies.
" '(Signed) W. T. SHERMAN,
" 'Major-General.' :
"The Story of a Great March/' Brevet Major George W. Nich
ols, Aide-de-Camp to General Sherman:
"History will in vain be searched for a parallel to the
scathing and destructive effect of the invasion of the Caro-
linas. Aside from the destruction of military things, there
wore destructions overwhelming, overleaping the present
generation — even if peace speedily come, agriculture, com
merce, cannot be revived in our day. Day by day our le
gions of armed men surged over the land, over a region of
forty miles wide, burning everything we could not take
away. On every side the head, center and rear of our col
umns might be traced by columns of smoke by day and the
glare of flames by night. The burning hand of war pressed
on these people, blasting, withering."
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 37
MAJOR NICHOLS, "The Story of a Great March, November 15,
1864 (p. 38), Atlanta, Ga. :
"A grand and awful spectacle is presented to the be-
holders of this beautiful city now in flames. The Heaven
is one expanse of lurid fire. The air is filled with flying,
burning cinders. Buildings covering 200 acres are in ruins
or flames."
"We are leaving Atlanta. Behind we leave a track of
smoke and flame. Yesterday we saw in the distance a pillar
of smoke; the bridges were all in flames. I heard a soldier
say, ' I believe Sherman has set the very river on fire. ' His
comrades replied, ' If he has its all right. ' The rebel inhab
itants are in an agony. The soldiers are as hearty and jolly
as men can be. " (p. 37).
"The soldiers are hunting for concealed things and these
searches are one of the pleasant excitements of our march. "
(p. 39).
SHERMAN'S Memoirs, Vol. II, p. 287:
"In my official report of the conflagration of Columbia
I distinctly charged it to General Wade Hampton, and now
I confess I did it pointedly to shake the faith of his people
in him."
GREGG'S History, p. 375:
"The devastation of the Palatine hardly exceeded the
desolation and misery wrought by the Republican invasion
and conquest of the South. No conquered nation of modern
days, not Poland under the heel of Nicholas, nor Spain or
Russia under that of Napoleon, suffered from such individ
ual and collective ruin or saw before so frightful a pros
pect as the States dragged by force in April, 1865."
CONTRAST :
PRESIDENT DAVIS :
"In regard to the enemy's crews and vessels you are to
proceed with the justice and humanity which characterize
our government and its citizens."
"General Lee, for fear his soldiers should pillage while
foraging in Pennsylvania, had the roll call three times
daily."
It is true General Early did burn Chambersburg, Pa., but it
was only after a refusal by the people to pay the $100,000 de
manded for General Hunter's destruction in the Shenandoah
Valley.
38 EHE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
When at York, Pa., he was urged to burn that place in retalia
tion. He said :
"We do not make war 011 women and children."
GENERAL JOHN B. GORDON to the women in York, Pa. :
"If the torch is applied to a single dwelling or an insult
offered to a woman by a soldier in my command, point me
the man and you shall have his life."
CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS testified:
"I doubt if a hostile foe ever advanced in an enemy's
country or fell back from it in retreat leaving behind it
less cause for hate and bitterness than did the Army of
Northern Virginia."
R. E. LEE, Commanding General, Chambersburg, Penn., June
21, 1863:
"The commanding general considers that no greater dis
grace could befall the army, and through it our whole peo
ple, than the perpetuation of the barbarous outrages upon
the unarmed and defenseless and the wanton destruction
of private property that have marked the course of the
enemy in our own country.
"Such proceedings not only degrade the perpetrators and
all conected with them, but are subversive of the discipline
and efficiency of the army and destructive of the ends of
our present movement. It must be remembered that we
make war only upon armed men, and that we cannot take
vengeance for the wrongs our people have suffered without
lowering ourselves in the eyes of all whose abhorrence has
been excited by the atrocities of our enemies and offending
against Him to whom vengeance belongeth, without whose
favor and support our efforts all prove in vain. The com
manding general, therefore, earnestly exhorts the troops to
abstain, with most scrupulous care, from unnecessary or
wanton injury to private property, and he enjoins upon all
officers to arrest and bring to summary punishment all who
shall in any way offend against the orders on this subject."
PRESIDENT DAVIS said to his soldiers :
"The rules taught at West Point were: 'Private prop
erty can be seized only by way of military necessity for the
support or benefit of the army of the United States. All
wanton violence, pillage or sacking, maiming or killing is
prohibited under penalty of death or punishment adequate
for the gravity of the offense.' "
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 39
WILLIAM M. MACY, Secretary of War, July 28, 1856 :
"The wanton pillage or uncompensated appropriation of
individual property by an army, even in possassion of an
enemy's country is against the usage of modern times."
XI.
The South Has Never Had Her Rightful Place In Literature
AUTHORITY :
HARRIET MARTINEAU said:
"For more than fifty years after the Revolution the best
specimen of periodical literature that this country afforded
was 'The Southern Review,' published at Charleston, S. C.,
by Bledsoe."
HAMILTON W. MABIE placed Poe, Timrod and Lanier as equal
in poetic quality with Bryant, Whittier and Longfellow. He
said:
"In the widening literary activity the South has borne
a very notable part — indeed, it may be said that it has
borne the chief part."
PANCOAST, of Philadelphia, says :
"The Southern story writers have done more than given
us studies of new localities. We feel instinctively a differ
ent quality in their work. Contrasted with the New Eng
land writers we feel the richer coloring, the warmer blood,
and the quicker pulses. When you read Hawthorne and
then turn to 'Marse Chan' and ' Meh Lady' by Thomas Nel
son Page, it is like passing from the world of thought to the
world of action — from the analysis of life to true living.
It is a world where the men are full of knightly deeds."
HAMILTON MABIE said:
"The genius of the Old South went into the management
of public affairs and gave the country a group of statesmen
that will not suffer by comparison with the foremost public
men of any country."
Then again:
"The South of today has no explanations to make; her
quota of writers of original gift and genuine art is perhaps
more important than that furnished by any other section of
our country. These writers exhibit certain qualities of the
Southern temperament from which much may be expected
40 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
in the literature of the future. Their work comes from the
heart rather than from analytical faculties. It is made of
flesh and blood, and it is therefore simple, tender, humor
ous and altogether human, and those qualities give assur
ance that it has long life before it." — The Outlook.
What does JOHN FISKE, a great historian of this century say?
While unjust to the South in many things he realizes the part
the South has played in the making of the Nation :
"Jefferson, Washington, Madison, Marshall and Alexan
der Hamilton are distinguished above all others and in an
especial sense they deserve to be called the founders of the
American Union.
"The Declaration of Independence ranks with the Magna
Charta and the Bill of Rights as one of the three greatest
of State papers.
"John Marshall, Chief Justice for thirty years, settled
the relations of the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial
branches of the government.
"James Madison, as a constructive thinker, did more than
all others not only to create the Constitution, but to secure
its ratification."
What section of the country ever produced greater orators
than Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, John Forsyth, Benjamin
H. Hill, Robert Toombs, Howell Cobb, Alexander Stephens,
Robert Y. Hayne, William H. Yancey and a host of others?
The greatest American dramatist was Augustin Daly, North
Carolina.
IN "The Outlook" in 1899 appeared this article from the pen
of Hamilton Mabie:
"The South never lacked institutions to keep alive the
best traditions of scholarship — never lacked culture to keep
in touch with the best of thought and art in the Old World
and the New. A love of letters was really keener in the
South than in New England, and there was a much larger
group of highly educated men in the South than in New
England — but ethics and religion made literature of sec
ondary importance.
"The genius of the Old South went into the manage
ment of public affairs, but it gave the country a group of
statesmen who would add dignity to the most illustrious
periods of statesmenship — such men as Washington, Jeffer
son, Madison, and Marshall — they will not suffer by com
parison with the foremost public men of the country."
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 41
PANCOAST, of Philadelphia, says :
"Put the work of Cable by the side of Ho well's and it is
like the tropic warmth of the Gulf Stream after the chill
of Northern waters.
"The themes of the Southern writers are fresh, new,
inspiring and striking — -they write about the things with
which they are familiar. ' '
Victor Hugo called Edgar Allan Poe "The Prince of Amer
ican Literature.'7
The London Quarterly Review said, "He had an ear for
rhythm unmatched in all the ages." And Richardson says:
"He is one of the world's men of genius."
COLERIDGE said :
"Washington Allston of South Carolina was the first
genius of the Western World."
TENNYSON said:
"Bryant, Whittier and other New England writers are
pigmies compared with Poe. He is the literary glory of
America."
Paul Hamilton Hayne has been called the "Woodland Min
strel of America." His "Daphels" has been pronounced by
Lewisohn as * * the finest narrative poem ever written, ' ' and Ten
nyson called him "the finest sonnet writer in America."
HAMILTON MABIE, in "The Outlook/' said:
"Timrod's "Cotton Boll" and Lanier's "Sunrise" have
been called 'the most original achievements of American
poetry.' :
LONGFELLOW said:
"The time will surely come when Timrod's poems will be
in every home of culture."
Yet after this high praise, Brander Matthews in his American
Literature, gives Lanier and Timrod three lines, does not men
tion Hayne or Father Ryan, but gives Harriet Beecher Stowe's
Uncle Tom's Cabin an entire page.
Abernathy, in his American Literature gives eleven pages to
Daniel Webster and three lines to Clay and Calhoun. He gives
Franklin more space than he gives to Washington, Jefferson,
Madison, Monroe, Marshall, Patrick Henry, Henry Laurens, the
Randolphs, the Pinckneys and other Southern statesmen com
bined.
42 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
Tlie New International Encyclopedia gives as much space to
John Brown — a traitor and murderer — as is given to Robert
Toombs, William II. Yancey, Alexander Stephens and other
statesmen of the South combined.
The Columbia Encyclopedia gives John Brown as much or
more space than is given to Jefferson Davis, United States Sec
retary of War and President of the Confederate States.
XII.
The North Violated the Constitution, and Refused to Stand by
the Decisions of the Supreme Court, and This
Drove the South to Secession
1. The Missouri Compromise, 1820. Slave territory restricted
and no Constitutional authority for it,
2. The Tariff Acts of 1828 and 1833. The Constitution says
tariff must be uniform — one section must not be discrim
inated against in favor of another.
3. Violation of the Fugitive Slave Law. Article IV., Sec. II.,
Clause 3.
4. Coercion in 1861. Article IV., Sec. IV.
5. Laws of Neutrality — Trent Affair. Article VI., Clause 2 —
Violation of International Law.
6. Writ of Habeas Corpus Suspended. Article I., Sec. IX.,
Clause 2.
1. War Was Declared Without the Consent of Congress, 1861.
Article I., Section VIII., Clauses 11, 12.
8. Emancipation Proclamation. Article IV., Section III.,
Clause 2.
9. West Virginia Made a State. Article IV., Section III..
Clause 1.
10. The Hanging of Mrs. Surratt. Amendments — Article V.
11. The Execution of Henry Wirz. Amendments — Article VI.
12. The XIV. and XV. Amendments. Article V.
13. The Seizure Without Compensation of Property After Sur
render. -Amendments — Articles IV. and VI.
14. Squatter Sovereignty. It allowed a territorial government
to exclude slavery.
15. The Inberty of the Press Taken Away. Amendments — Ar
ticle I.
THE TRUTHS O.F HISTORY 43
16. The Freedom of Speech Denied. Vallandigham Impris
oned in Ohio. Amendments — Article I.
17. Blockading Ports of States that Were Held by the Federal
Government to Be still in the Union.
MISSOURI COMPROMISE.
PERCY GREGG, the English historian, says :
"Baffled, wearied and worn out, the South reluctantly
submitted to the Missouri Compromise. This was no com
promise but the extortion by naked force at an enormous
price for the allowance of a right iniquitiously and uncon
stitutionally withheld. ' '
GEORGE LUNT, of Boston, Massachusetts, in his "Origin of the
Late War/' says:
"Missouri was as fairly entitled to admission into the
"Union as a slave State, if its inhabitants so willed it, as
Louisiana had come in as a slave State in 1812 or Iowa as
a free State in 1846. It was, nevertheless, a struggle on the
part of the North to impose political restrictioas upon that
enlargement of political power which it is feared the South
might gain by increasing the number of States allied to
it in interest and sympathy. It was the earliest open dem
onstration of organized jealousy."
GEORGE LUNT gives some resolutions passed unanimously by
the House of Representatives:
"That neither the Federal government nor non-slave-
holding States have a Constitutional right to legislate upon
or interfere with slavery in any of the States in the Union."
(p. 432).
The South again felt that the Compromises of 1850 were un
just because the Missouri line was made when the North wished
it and was done away with, when the North wished it, and that
the North, to carry her point, was willing to destroy not only
the Constitution but the very Union itself.
Hear what JOSIAH QUINCY, the standard bearer of the Repub
lican party (Political Textbook, p. 108; Letter to Mr. Car-
ruthers, Feb. 28, 1856; George Lunt, p. 261), said:
"Reinstate in full force that barrier against the exten
sion of slavery called the Missouri Compromise. Make
Kansas a free State even if it dissolves the Union itself."-
44 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
JUDGE STORY, of the Supreme Court, in speaking of the Fugitive
Slave Law, (Peters Reports, Pregg vs. Pa., p. 611), said:
"It cannot be doubted that it constituted a fundamental
article, (the right to own slaves) without the adoption of
which the Union could not have been formed."
TARIFF ACTS.
The South maintained that the Tariff Acts of 1828 and 1833
were unconstitutional, since Congress had the power to levy
taxes only for revenue and the taxes must be uniform. The
act then passed was sectional, since by it the South, while she
had only one-third of the votes, paid two-thirds of the custom
duties, and as our government was a compact, the government
could not be superior to the States — so Congress was over-step
ping its powers, and she contended that a tax on one part of the
country could not be laid to protect the industries of another
part. (Constitution — Section VIII., Clause 1).
The South contended that the Tariff Acts of 1828, 1832, and
1833 were violations of the Compact or Constitution for "taxa
tion was not uniform, ' ' and one section was discriminated against
in favor of the other. The Cotton States particularly suffered
by these traiff acts.
What had the North to say to this?
When THOMAS HART BENTON, of Missouri, in referring to the
Tariff Acts, said :
' ' Under Federal legislation the exports of the South have
been the basis of the Federal revenues — everything goes out
and nothing is returned to them in the shape of government
expenditures. The expenditures flow North. This is the
reason why wealth disappears from the South and rises up
in the North. No tariff has yet included Georgia, Virginia,
or the two Carolinas, except to increase the burdens imposed
upon them. The political economists of the North, Carey,
Elliott, Kettel and others who have studied the source of
National wealth in America, said, 'Mr. Benton is right in
the explanation given of the sudden disappearance of wealth
from the South. ' '
And when the abolitionists tried to contend that slavery was
the cause of this not the tariff, Prof. Elliott, a teacher of Science
at Harvard, denied that it was slavery that had impoverished
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 45
the South, and said it was Federal legislation in regard to the
Tariff Acts.
BLEDSOE'S "War Between the States," (p. 225), said:
"This legislation, so unjust to the South, left in the
minds of the men of the South a deep and abiding sense of
the injustice of Northern legislation."
Then the editor of "Southern Wealth and Northern Profits,"
a Northern man, said :
"It is gross injustice, if not hypocrisy, to be always
growing rich on the profits of slave labor; and at the same
time to be eternally taunting and insulting the South on
acconut of slavery. Though you bitterly denounce slavery
as the 'sum of all villainies,' it is nevertheless the principal
factor (by high tariff) of your Northern wealth, and you
know it."
FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW.
The South claimed that their slaves were their property,
bought from the Northern slave dealer with their money, and
not only could be protected by the Constitution but, by a later
guarantee which had been given by the Compromises of 1850,
returned to them when they ran away.
What does the North say?
CHIEF JUSTICE STORY, of the United States Supreme Court,
said :
"The master has the right to seize the runaway slave in
any State of the Union."
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, in a speech at Peoria, 111., in 1854, said :
"The slaveholder has a legal and moral right to his
slaves. ' '
See also Amendment IV. of the United States Constitution.
JUDGE BLACK, in his "Essays," p. 153, says:
"That 'Higher Law' which gave the Federal govern
ment power to legislate against the Southern States in de
fiance of the Constitution would logically justify any execu
tive outrage that might be desired for party purposes on
the life, liberty and property of individuals."
The interference on the part of Northern politicians with the
institution of slavery and the rights of the slaveholder to take
his slaves where he pleased was illegal and unconstitutional.
46 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
This claim was supported by Congress when Benjamin Frank
lin and the Quakers urged the freedom of the slaves. The de
cision was that Congress had no right to interfere with the in
stitution of slavery or the slaveholders. (See Congressional
Records).
It was again supported by the decision in the Dred Scott case
—that a slave being carried into a free State did not give him
his freedom — only the slaveholder himself had the right to free
his slave. ((See Decision of Supreme Court — Taney).
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES had passed the following reso
lutions :
"That Congress has no authority to interfere in the
emancipation of slaves or in the treatment of them within
any of the States; it remaining with the several States
alone to provide any regulations there which humanity
and true policy may require."
Lincoln violated the Constitution when he called for the
militia to coerce the States.
VIRGINIA'S reply was:
"Virginians will never join you in your open and known
violation of the Constitution nor unite with your forces in
shedding the blood of Virginia's brethren for support of
the Union. If Virginians must fight they prefer to espouse
the cause of the Constitution, the backbone of the Union."
EMANCIPATION.
"Emancipation is not within the scope of the Constitu
tion, or in any degree at the disposition of the United States
government, and can mean nothing else than revolution for
which the abolitionists are striving. Revolution can only
be justified by oppression and the power of oppression is
not with the South."
A RESOLUTION was passed unanimously by Congress July 23,
1861:
"The war is waged by the government of the United
States, not in the spirit of conquest or subjugation, nor for
the purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights
or institutions of the States, but to defend and maintain
the supremacy of the Constitution, and to preserve the
Union with all the dignity, equality and rights of the several
States unimpaired."
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 47
McCLURE, an ardent admirer of Abraham Lincoln, says:
"As the sworn executive of the Nation, it was his duty to
obey the Constitution, in all its provisions, and he accepted
that duty without reservations — yet in eighteen months he
issued his Emancipation Proclamation.'*
JAMES FORD RHODES, of Massachusetts, Vol. IV, p. 213, says:
" There was, as every one knows, no authority for the
proclamation in the letter of the Constitution, nor was there
any statute that warranted it. ' '
THE SUPREME COURT of the United States in its ruling said :
"Any doctrine which leads to the suspension of any of
the provisioas of the Constitution during the exigencies of
government leads directly to anarchy or despotism. ' '
CHIEF JUSTICE CHASE said :
"Neither President, nor Congress, nor Courts possess any
power not given by the Constitution."
ABRAHAM LINCOLN said:
"I have no Constitutional right to free your slaves and
I have no desire to do so."
HORTON, in his "Youth's History of the Civil War/' p. 51, says:
"The great leaders of the South were begging and im
ploring that the Union should be preserved."
FREEDOM OF SPEECH.
As was the case of Vallandigham in Ohio men were throws
into prison for daring to say the South was right.
JAMES FORD RHODES, (Vol. III., p. 232), says:
"Mr. Lincoln stands responsible for the casting into
prisons citizens of the United States on orders as arbitrary
as the Lettres De Cachet of Louis XIV. of France, instead
of their arrest as in Great Britain in her crisis on legal ar
rests "
GEORGE BANCROFT, "Life of Seward," (Vol. II, p. 254), says:
"Some of the features of these arbitrary arrests bore a
striking resemblance to the odious institution of the an
cient regime of France — the Bastile and Lettres De Cachet."
48 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS SUSPENDED.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Albany, N. Y. :
"The suspension of the habeas corpus was for the pur
pose that men may be arrested and held in prison who can
not be proved guilty of any defined crime."
"A Mary lander was seized by a party of soldiers and im
prisoned in Fort McHenry. His friends asked Chief Jus
tice Taney, of the Supreme Court, for a writ of habeas
corpus which was granted, but the soldier said President
Lincoln had authorized him to suspend the writ. Judge
Taney said the President had no such power."
JUDGE BLACK, of Pennsylvania, in his Essays, says :
"A perfectly innocent and most respectable woman was
lawlessly dragged from her family and brutally put to
death, without judge or upon the mere order of certain mil
itary officers convoked for that purpose. It was, take it all
in all, as foul a murder as ever blackened the face of God's
sky. It was done in strict accordance with that 'Higher
Law' and the Law Department of the United States ap
proved it."
(See also Reverdy Johnson's testimony).
BARNES' Popular History, p. 597:
"Booth's accomplices were arrested, tried by a military
court and convicted."
THE EXECUTION OF HENRY WIRZ.
"'He was tried out of his State b}^ suborned witnesses —
all witnesses in his defense were not permitted to be ad
mitted to the stand — and judge and jury partial."
(See testimony of Louis Schade, his lawyer).
EXTRACTS taken from Page's "True History of Andersonville" :
"Major Wirz was the object of that popular injustice
that personifies causes and demands victims for unpopular
movements. All the accumulated passions of the war were
concentrated up<?n this one man. He was the magnet that
drew the Northern wrath to satiety."
"The South never believed that Wirz was guilty nor any
body else was guilty of the crimes alleged against him. The
crimes could not have been committed without their knowl
edge. When, therefore, Captain Wirz, standing under the
gallows and on the very brink of the grave, declared his
innocence they believed he spoke the truth."
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 49
"The War Minister of the Government taking counsel of
his passions, his prejudices and his hatreds, sought by the
conviction and execution of Wirz to write a false chapter in
the history of the war to infamize the South."
'One of the most truthful and reliable men of Georgia,
an eminent surgeon, was summoned to Washington for the
prosecution. Supposing that the Judge Advocate was de
sirous of getting the truth, went to him before the trial to
tell him that the vaccine matter used upon the prisoners
was the same that was used upon the women and children
in the country, having been introduced into the South from
abroad, and had the same effect upon the women and chil
dren as it had upon the prisoners.
"The Judge Advocate did not allude to this testimony
when the witness was called to the stand, and when the
counsel for defense recalled him to the stand to explain
this matter, the Judge Advocate used all his legal ingenuity
to prevent the truth being told."
"When one of the prisoners was called as a witness, he
testified to a chapter of horrors, and on leaving the stand
another prisoner accosted him and asked him why he had
said those things, his reply was: 'I swore to a lie, and if I
could return to the stand I would swear it all away. ' '
"The military gentlemen who composed the commission
with Mr. Stanton at their back have had their fleeting tri
umph. Wirz will have his in history. The day will yet
come when they will deplore the parts they have played in
this disreputable tragedy."
"He was doomed before he was heard, and even the per
mission to be heard according to law was denied him."
(p. 236).
"On the evening before his execution some officers came
to Wirz's Confessor, Father Boyle, and also to me — Louis
Schade, his attorney, one of them informing me that a high
Cabinet official wished to assure Wirz that if he would im
plicate Jefferson Davis with the atrocities committed at
Andersonville, his sentence would be commuted. The mes
senger wished me to inform Wirz of this. In the presence
of Father Boyle, I told Wirz this. His reply was, "Jeffer
son Davis had no connection with me as to what was done
at Andersonville, and if I knew anything about him I would
not become a traitor to save my life." (p. 237).
"All connected with Wirz have been released except
Jefferson Davis. Now as Wirz could not conspire alone,
nobody now, in view of this fact, considers him guilty."
50 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
History records that Henry Wirz could not be convicted
on any charge brought against him.
' 'I do not hesitate to assert that out of the 160 witnesses
that testified, 145 declared that Captain Wirz never mur
dered or killed any Union prisoners with his own hands or
otherwise." (p. 239).
No names of the alleged murdered men could ever be given,
and when it was stated that a murder had been committed, no
such prisoners could be found or identified. Those who were
said to have died from wounds inflicted by Wirz in many cases
lived five or six days, yet died nameless. This alone would tes
tify to the falsity of the charges.
Louis SCHADE, Wirz's attorney:
" Secretary Stanton denied Christian burial to Captain
Wirz. He lies side by side with the remains of Mrs. Sur-
ratt, another and acknowledged victim of military com
mission in the yard of the former jail of this city."
PA E'S History, p. 247 :
"To my fellow prisoners that still insist that Captain
Wirz was guilty and merited his tragic death: Do you
know of your own personal knowledge that he ever maimed
or killed a Union prisoner of war? Isn't it prejudice pure
and simple, prejudice caused by your privations and suffer
ings at Andersonville? Could you have done better had
you been in his place? I judge Henry Wirz from my per
sonal knowledge of his character. Let us be fair about the
matter."
M. L. Haley, No. 819 Fifth Avenue, Helena, Montana, says
his friend, a prisoner at Andersonville, told him that the Henry
Wirz that he knew at Andersonville, and the Henry Wirz tried
at Washington were two different persons. He had charge of
100 men and he twice saw Wirz burst into tears when he saw the
men suffering and he could not help them.
Some of the prisoners who were at Andersonville testify that
Glazier's, Kellogg 's, Spencer's, and Urban 's histories of Ander
sonville are absolutely untruthful.
GENERAL 0. II. LAGRANGE, of the Federal Army, said:
"My personal observation of Wirz leaves no doubt in my
mind that h e was sacrificed to meet the demands of a class
of people who demanded his life to satisfy their revengeful
spirit. I was summoned as a witness and saw the feeling
underlying the fearful prosecution."
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 51
THE XIV. AND XV. AMENDMENTS.
HORTON says:
"The war changed the entire character and system of
our government, overthrew the rights of States, and forced
amendments against the action of the people, which made
those amendments unconstitutional/'
"Constitutional View of the War," Stephen*, p. 15:
"The South claimed that the States under Reconstruction
were required and literally compelled to form such consti
tutions as suited the dominant faction at "Washington, and
that while enfranchising the millions of blacks in our midst
they denied the whites in those States the right to make
Constitutions to secure safety and happiness."
Therefore, they regard both of those Amendments XIV. and
XV. as unconstitutional.
THE CHICAGO CHRONICLE:
"The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution grew
out of revenge, for the purpose of punishing the Southern
people. It became a part of the Constitution by fraud and
force to secure the results of war. The war was not fought
to secure negro suffrage."
While Congress did not explicitly promise that it would admit
the Representatives and Senators of the States which ratified the
Fourteenth Amendment, it doubtless would have done so ; but
every one (except Sumner) was indignant at the disqualifying
clause and overwhelmingly rejected the Amendment. It thus
failed to secure the votes of three-fourths of the States of the
Union for ratification.
Congress angered by this conduct on the part of the South,
decided to take the reconstruction of the States entirely into
is own hands. This was a violation of the Constitution.
"The United States shall guarantee to every State in the
Union a Republican form of government, and shall protect
each of them against invasion and domestic violence."
BLOCKADE.
The Federal government asserted that the seceding States
were still in the Union — then how could they invade and destroy
homes and property, and how blockade their ports?
"The blockade acknowledged the Confederacy a bellig-
52 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
erent power outside of the Union; since no nation can block
ade its own ports. President Lincoln would never acknowl
edge that the Southern States were out of the Union, so
when he declared a blockade and England and France pro
claimed neutrality between the belligerents he became
greatly stirred and truly, if the truth be known, this led to
his Emancipation Act."
FREEDOM OF PRESS.
JOHN FREMONT:
"The administration has managed the war for personal
ends, and with incapacity and selfish disregard of Constitu
tional rights, with violation of personal liberty of the press. ' '
DECISIONS OF THE SUPREME COURT.
CHAS. FRANCIS ADAMS, JR.
"By the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of
Dred Scott, it would seem that the South has won every
point. It had demanded all for slavery, and had, at last,
received it from the supreme judicial tribunal of the land.
To interfere with slavery now would be to violate the su
preme law. This decision puts the burden of good be
havior on the North, for the South has always held that
decision was the supreme law of the land."
J. G. HOLLAND'S "Life of Abraham Lincoln," p. 284:
"The South stood by the decisions of the Supreme Court
—the North did not and Lincoln did not. In his Inaugural
Address Lincoln said, 'If the decisions of the Supreme
Court are irrevocably fixed, then the people cease to be
their own masters, and practically resign their government
into the hands of that eminent tribunal."
REPORT FROM THE CHARLESTON CONVENTION, 1860 :
"The Southern representatives said that they would stand
by the Constitution and the decisions of the Supreme Court
whether for or against the South, and the Northern repre
sentatives refused to stand by the decisions of the Supreme
Court and the highest tribunal of the land."
BARNES' "Popular History," p. 476, in the Dred Scott case:
"Judge Taney affirmed that negroes were not citizens
and that Congress had no power under the Constitution to
forbid slavery in the Territories."
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 53
LINCOLN, in his Cooper Institute Speech, said :
"In spite of Judge Taney's decision, Congress did have
a right to prohibit slavery in the Territories."
SQUATTER SOVEREIGNTY.
VON HOLST, "The Construction Construed":
"The Republican platform which elected Abraham Lin
coln declared the Dred Scott decision a political heresy, the
Missouri Compromise unconstitutional and Squatter Sov
ereignty unconstitutional because it allowed a territorial
government to exclude slavery."
THE TRENT AFFAIR.
"On August 29, 1861, President Davis appointed James
M. Mason, of Virginia, and John Sidell, of Louisiana, com
missioners to England and France to place the Confed
eracy in the right light before these two great nations.
They ran the blockade at Charleston, S. C., October 12,
1861, and proceeded to Havana, and sailed for Southamp
ton, England, on the Trent, commanded by Captain Wilkes.
The commissioners were taken from the ship with their sec
retaries and taken to Fort Warren to be imprisoned. The
North highly approved of this act and the House of Rep
resentatives with the President's approval voted Captain
Wilkes a gold medal. This was a direct violation of the
International Law and England demanded their release
and an apology. The United States government, through
its representative, Mr. Seward, did both and did it quickly."
XIII.
Jefferson Davis Must Have His Rightful Place in History.
The United States government is indebted to Jefferson Davis
for the following services :
Distinguished services in the Black Hawk War.
Served valiantly in the war with Mexico.
Hero at Monterey ; wounded at Buena Vista ; scaled the walls
of the City of Mexico.
He introduced the wedge movement and saved the day at
Buena Vista.
United States Senator from Mississippi.
Secretary of War in Pierce 's Cabinet.
54 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
First to suggest trans-continental railroads connecting the
Atlantic with the Pacific.
First to. suggest camels as ships of the uninhabitable West to
convey military stores.
First to suggest buying Panama Canal Zone.
First to suggest buying Cuba.
He planned American trade with China and Japan.
He suggested closer relations with South America.
He urged preparedness for war.
He enlarged the United States. Army by four regiments.
He organized cavalry service adapted to our needs.
He introduced light infantry or rifle system of tactics.
He caused the manufacture of guns, rifles and pistols.
He rendered invaluable services to Colt's Armory.
He ordered the frontier surveyed.
He put young officers in training for surveying expeditions.
He sent George D. McClellan to Crimea to study the military
tactics of the British and Russian armies.
He appointed Robert E. Lee as Superintendent of West Point.
He advanced Albert Sidney Johnston to important posts.
He had forts repaired and many of them rebuilt.
He strengthened forts on the Western frontier, frequently
drawing on arsenals in the South to do it.
He had the Western part of the continent explored for scien
tific, geographical and railroad work.
He was responsible for the new Senate Hall, the new House
of Representatives, and for the extension of many public build
ings in Washington, especially the Treasury Building.
He was responsible for the construction of the aqueduct sys
tem in the Nation's capital.
He was responsible for "Armed Liberty" on the Capitol hav
ing a helmet of eagle feathers instead of the cap of a pagan
goddess.
He had Cabin John Bridge built with its span of 220 feet.
He was United States Senator under President Buchanan.
lie was nominated for President by Massachusetts men in
1860.
He refused to allow his name to be presented for President at
the Charleston Convention.
He stood strongly for the Union, but stressed the constitu
tional riorht of a State to secede.
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 55
He did secede with Mississippi, as he had been taught at West
Point.
He stood for what Lincoln preached but did not practice —
"Not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men
who perverted the Constitution. "
Nowhere did his genius display itself more signally than as
Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce.
RECORDS OP WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington City :
"He revised the Army Regulations, showing a thorough
knowledge of the subject and a matserful grasp of the needs
of our army, as well as the armies of Europe.
"That he believed in preparedness is shown by the fact
that he insisted upon the addition of four regiments to the
army and organized a cavalry service peculiarly adapted to
the wants of the country ; introduced light infantry, or the
rifle system of tactics, and caused the manufacture of rifles,
muskets and pistols. He gave such valuable suggestions t«
workmen at Colt's Armory that they made him a pistol on
the silver breech of which they engraved the words: 'To a
brother inventor.'
"Through his influence numberless forts were repaired
and rehabilitated, the frontier defences strengthened, and
the Wetsern part of the continent explored for scientific,
geographical and railroad purposes. It is with pride we
look back upon his work in the Coast Survey question, for
he was recognized as the ablest and best posted defender in
this work. Under the supervision of the War Department,
during the first year of Mr. Davis' service, the extension of
the new Capitol was energetically prosecuted. He stood by
General Meigs in all his efforts to construct the waterworks,
finish the Capitol building on the grandest scale, and to
push forward the extension of the Treasury Department.
A splendid stone aqueduct, which spans 220 feet, a few
miles from Washington, built during Mr. Davis' term as
Secretary of War, still remains a monument to his earnest
labor for the benefit of the capitol. Tt is known as 'Cabin
John Bridge. ' :
IN EWING'S book, "Northern Rebellion Against the Constitution
Producing Southern Secession/' he shows up Kansas in her
true light :
"The fight against the South crystallized in Kansas.
The rebellion was open against the government, and Jeffer
son Davis, when Secretary of War, had to put down that
rebellion and restore peace and order. John Brown re-
56 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
opened the fight in Kansas, later taking it to Harper's
Ferry. ' '
A tribute from one of the North who served with Davis in the
War with Mexico is:
"Fellow citizens: I was at Buena Vista. I saw the bat
tle lost and victory in the grasp of the brutal and accursed
foe. I saw the favorite son of 'Harry of the West,' my
colonel, weltering in his blood as he died on the field. I
saw death or captivity worse than death in store for every
Kentuckian on that gory day. Everything seemed lost and
was hopeless when a Mississippi regiment with Jefferson
Davis at its head appeared on the scene. I see him now as
he was then — the incarnation of battle, the avatar of rescue.
He turned the tide; he snatched victory from defeat: he
saved the army; his heroic hand wrote 'Buena Vista' in
letters of everlasting glory on our proud escutcheon, a hero,
my countryman, my brother, my rescuer. He is no less so
this day, and I would strike the shackles from his aged
limbs and make his as free as the vital air of heaven, and
clothe him with every right I enjoy, had I the power."
CONGRESSIONAL RECORDS : On May 24, 1850, Jefferson Davis, of
Mississippi, in the Senate of the United States passed a set
of resolutions containing this extract:
"Any intermeddling of any one or more States by a com
bination of citizens with the domestic institutions of other
States, on any pretext, whatever, political, moral, or re
ligious, with a view of disturbance in violation of the Con
stitution, is insulting to the States so interfered with and
tends to weaken the Union."
The Resolutions passed 36 to 19. Eight States refused to
vote and these eight States were the ones that had nullified the
Fugitive Slave law and later elected Abraham Lincoln President.
The South knew this and resented Lincoln's election.
His speech as Fanueil Hall, Boston, 1853, was a masterly
effort in defence of the South and the Constitutional right of
slavery. When it was known that he was to make his Farewell
Address to the Senate in 1861, the House of Representatives
came in a body to hear him.
It was at West Point he studied Rawle's "View of the Con
stitution," which taught him that if a State seceded — showing
that it was an acknowledged fact by the Constitution that a
State had the right to secede — the duty of a soldier reverted to
his State — hence Davis, Robert E. Lee, Thomas J. Jackson, the
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 57
Johnstons and others, acting upon this instruction, cast their
lot with their States in 1861. Thus it happened that when in
1865 the question of a trial of Jefferson Davis was agitated,
Chief Justice Chase said that a trial would condemn the North,
and so no trial was ever held. He was released on bail but his
political disabilities were never removed.
JEROME E. TITLOW,, the one sent to manacle him, said :
"Upon him criticism expended all its arrows and yet no
blemish was found."
Men who did not love him or admire him as a politician were
forced to acknowledge his fine traits of character.
NEW YORK WORLD:
"Jefferson Davis was a man of commanding ability, spot
less integrity, controlling conscience, and a temper so res
olute that at times it approached obstinacy. He was proud,
sensitive and honorable in all his dealings and in every re
lation of life/'
THE EDITOR of the New York Sun said :
"Amid irreparable disaster, Jefferson Davis was sus
tained by a serene consciousness that he had done a man's
work according to his lights, and that, while unable to com
mand success, he had striven to deserve it. Even among
those who looked upon him with least sympathy it was felt
that he bore defeat and humiliation in the highest Roman
fashion. ' '
CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, JR.:
"No fatal mistakes either of administration or strategy
were made which can be fairly laid to his account. He did
the best possible with the means that he had at his com
mand. Merely the opposing forces were too many and too
strong for him. Of his austerity, earnestness and fidelity
there can be no more question that can be entertained of
his capacity."
DR. CRAVEN, his prison physician, gave this testimony:
' ' The more I saw of him the more T was convinced of his
sincere religious convictions. He impressed me more with
the divine origin of God's Word than <:ny professor of
Christianity I ever met."
Did his Christianity extend to forgiveness of his enemies. A
Northern man, Ridpath, the historian, a guest at Beauvoir, tes
tified that during his visit he never heard one word of bitterness
58 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
toward any man. A quotation from a speech made to the
Mississippi Legislature March 10, 1884, will in itself suffice to
answer this question:
"Our people have accepted that decree; it therefore be
hooves them, as they may, to promote the general welfare
of the Union, to show to the world that hereafter as here
tofore, the patriotism of our people is not measured by
lines of latitude and longitude, but is as broad as the obli
gations they have assumed and embraces the whole of our
ocean-bound domain. Let them leave to their children's
children the good example of never swerving from the path
of duty, and prefering to return good for evil rather than
to cherish the unmanly feeling of revenge."
"When the news came that Lee must fall back from Peters
burg, which meant the evacuation of Richmond, and a possible
surrender, he was found on his knees in prayer in St. Paul's
Church, Richmond, Va.
Did Jefferson Davis ever regret the step that was taken in re
gard to secession?
"It has been said that I should apply to the United
States for a pardon ; but repentance must precede the right
of pardon, and I have not repented. Remembering, as I
must, all which has been suffered, all which has been lost,
disappointed hopes, and crushed aspirations, yet I delib
erately say, if it were to do over again, I would do just as
I did in 1861.
"Never teach your children to admit that their fathers
were wrong in their effort to maintain the sovereignty,
•freedom and independence which was their inalienable
birthright. I cannot believe that the causes for which our
sacrifices were made can ever be lost, but rather hope that
those who now deny the justice of our asserted claims will
learn from experience that the fathers builded wisely and
the Constitution should be construed according to the com
mentaries of those men who made it."
CHIEF JUSTICE CHASE:
"If Jefferson Davis be brought to trial it will convict the
North and exonerate the South.'
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 59
II.
CHARLES O'CONNOR:
"Rawle's 'View of the Constitution' and Bledsoe's 'Is
Davis a Traitor?', would have won the case without further
testimony had it come to trial." (The Trial of Jefferson
Davis).
On page 44 of "The Republic of Republics/' is found this state
ment:
"A solemn consultation of a small number of the ablest
lawyers of the North was held in Washington to discuss the
question whether the Federal Government should commence
a criminal prosecution against Jefferson Davis for his par
ticipation and leadership in the War of Secession. The
council was conducted with the utmost secrecy. Among
those present were Attorney-General Speed, efudge Clif
ford Wm. Evarts, and perhaps a dozen others who had been
selected from the whole Northern profession for their legal
ability and acumen, and the result of their deliberation was
the sudden abandonment of the idea of prosecution in view
of the insurmountable difficulties of securing conviction,"
Charles O'Connor, one of Mr. Davis' counsel and one of the
most distinguished lawyers in the United States, after reading
the lines of argument by Dr. Bledsoe in "Is Davis a Traitor?"
wrote to him that with so admirably prepared, and -overwhelm
ingly conclusive brief as was contained in his book, his task of
defending Mr. Davis would be easy indeed.
REV. DR. BACON,, of Assouet, Massachusetts, said :
"While the trial of Mr. Davis was pending, Mr. Wm. B.
Reed, one of the counsel for defence, was a member of my
brother's congregation at Orange, N. J. He told my
brother that if the case had come to trial, Rawle's 'View of
the Constitution,' the textbook from which Davis had been
instructed at West Point, would have been used in his
defense, and when this was learned, it was decided the trial
was not to take place." (See North American Review ,
September, 1904).
Charles Francis Adams testified that before Story 's Commen
taries were published in 1833, Rawle's 'View of the Constitu
tion/ (published in 1825) was the textbook at West Point, and
continued in use up to 1840.
60 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
R. G. HORTON, in his "Youth's History of the Civil War," pub
lished in 1868, on page 384, says:
"It is extremely doubtful whether the abolitionists will
ever dare to bring Mr. Davis before a fair tribunal ; for in
that case they would themselves be proved the traitors and
rebels which they accuse him of being. Probably under
some pretext he will be allowed liberty and thus end the
last act in the four years tragedy of sorrow.
"His counsel demanded a speedy trial knowing he would
be vindicated. The Federal Government postponed the trial
three years. When, at last, the case was called Chief Jus
tice Chase blocked the prosecution by some technical point
and referred the decision to the Supreme Court ; and that
case, today, rests on the Supreme Court docket never to
be brought to trial — what does this prove? It completely
vindicates the man and the cause,"
In 1876, eleven years after the South surrendered, Mr. James
G. Blaine of Maine, 'stood up in Congress and poured out "a
lot of hate-born lies as malignant as human tongue ever uttered
or human brain ever concocted : ' '
"Mr. Davis," cried Mr. Blaine, "was the author, know
ingly, deliberately, guiltily, and willfully, of the gigantic
murders and crimes at Andersonville. And I here before
God, measuring my words, knowing their full intent, and
import, declare that neither the deeds of the Duke of Alva
in the Low Country, nor the massacre of St. Bartholomew,
nor the thumb screws, and other engine of torture of the
Inquisition, begin to compare in atrocity with the hideous
crimes of Andersonville. ' '
MR. HILI/S reply:
"If nine per cent, of the men in Southern prisons were
starved and tortured to death by Mr. Jefferson Davis, who
tortured to death the twelve per cent, of the Southern men
who died in Northern prisons?" (See "Secretary Stan-
ton's Statistics."
Judge Shea was sent in 1866 to Canada to examine the secret
sessions' records of the Confederate Government. Through the
courtesy of General John C. Breckenridge, Judge Shea was al
lowed to examine these records, especially those in regard to the
care of and exchange of prisoners. This was taken from Judge
Shea's report :
"It was decisively manifest that Mr. Davis steadily and
unflinchingly set himself in opposition to the demands for
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 61
retaliation, and this impaired his personal influence and
brought censure upon him from Southern people. These
secret sessions show that Mr. Davis strongly desired to do
something which would secure better treatment of his men
in Northern prisons; and would place the war on the foot
ing of wars waged by people in modern times, and divest it
of a savage character. Mr. Davis never did yield to the
continual demand for retaliation. ' '
RUSSELL'S Diary, p. 163; Correspondence to London Times:
' l The stories which have been so sedulously spread of the
barbarity and cruelty of the Confederates to all the wound
ed Union men ought to be set at rest by the printed state
ments of the eleven Union surgeons, just released, who have
come back from Richmond, where they were sent after their
capture on the field of Bull Run, with the most distinct
testimony that the Confederates treated their prisoners
with humanity. Who are the miscreants who assert that, the
rebels burned the wounded in hospitals and bayoneted them
as they lay helpless on the battlefield?"
EDITOR of the New Haven ( Conn. ) Register says :
"There is something to say about Jefferson Davis and
his admission to the Hall of Fame. It is high time it was
said. It is high time that the mist which for half a century
has distorted the North's view of this son of the South was
cleared away. It is in justice time that the man, who in his
day suffered more than any other Southerner for the cause
in which he believed, should cease to be reckoned a traitor
and a coward and be esteemed for what he was, a brave,
true Southern gentleman The South will never cease
to admire the man of iron nerve, of dauntless courage, of
ceaseless loyalty, of unsullied honor, of tireless energy, of
peerless chivalry, who suffered and dared and all but died
for the cause he loved and lost. Of .that host of true men
who gave their best and their all for the Confederacy be
cause in their deepest hearts they believed they were doing
right, none was more sincere than he. Of that multitude
who lined up for the struggle against their brothers of the
North, none was braver, none was nobler. His sacrifice
was as extreme as it was sincere, and his treatment by the
victors after the crash came was sore medicine for a heart
that was breaking
"What better time could there be to signify, by the
placing of his statue in the nation's capital, that the wounds
of that war are healed, that in the blood of brothers shed
the Union is forever cemented on a foundation that stand-
62 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
cth sure? Then let his presentment stand erect, noble, com
manding, impressive as he stood in the days when he \\as
master of the destinies of half a nation hot it picture
a martyr to a. cause that, though lost, was not wholly vain,
since it taught hrothers to appreciate a relationship they
were in danger of forgetting. And not inappropriately
might there bo carved on it the inscription which an un
known pool of the South once suggested for his statue:
" 'Write on Us bate, * UY lored him.' Ml tlnsc >/«irs
tfincc tha-t torn flay icax folded ?/v'r< heen trite,
The love that bound ux now repealed in ttars
Like n'(l>s unseen till It turn irilh the dew.' '
The writer of this article knew Mr. Davis personally, and in
his home at Hoauvoir was his guest. In addition, he hail also
been one of his escort from Charlotte, N. 0., to Washington,
Ga. In the home of Mr. Davis no word of bitterness toward
even those who had despitofully used him was hoard. Ho de
clined to discuss the politics of the day, evidently fooling the
indignity that was daily heaped upon him by those who, forget
ting nothing, also learned nothing. OF Mr. hincoln ho spoke
several times in kindly terms, instancing his tine capacity for
illustrating his moaning with apt anecdotes, an accomplishment
in which hi4 thought Few public men had excelled him. Though
in Congress at the same time as Mr. hincoln, ho stated that he
had no recollection of his personality. In an article which was
written by the writer oF this after his visit to Mr. Davis the
following is found:
"Not by word or tone did this chief of the greatest of
civil wai^ express other than respect for the memory of
that other great Kentuckian who, like himself, sat in a
Presidential chair and held in his hands the destinies of n
great people during that struggle between the two tines)
armies of volunteers the world has ever known. "
POLK JOHNSON, " Confederate Veteran," Louisville, Tw., Jan
uary, 1920:
"The most remarkable man of his day in many respects,
the chief of the greatest civil war the world has known,
the head of a government and army which, considering
their resources, or the lack of them, put on record the great
est military achievements of the age; the unfaltering ad
vocate of an idea which ho refuses to abandon in the face
of defeat, which idea represents the opinions of the Found-
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 63
ers of the government and the spirit of the Constitution, he
sits by the side of the sea, a citizen of no land under the
sun; proscribed, misrepresented, and derided, yet accept
ing it all without a murmur and calmly resting his case
for those who will corne after all of us to decide, conscious
of the uprightness of his public and private career, his
faithful devotion to his State and section, and the honesty
of his purposes. Surrounded by his family, he as calmly
and bravely awaits the end, which cannot be far away now,
as he faced the storm of Santa Anna's bullets in Mexico
and bore the indignity of chains and the horrors of a
dungeon in later years. Kindly, gentle old man! When
that good gray head is pillowed upon the bosom of your
belowd Mississippi, may then-, come one who will writo
upon the pages of history the fair record of your brave, up
right, and honored life, for it has been and is all of these,,
deny it as your bitterest adversary may!"
"Tn vain Mr. Davis requested to be taken into open court.
They would riot for they knew they had no particle of evi
dence on which to convict him. Were he tried for Lincoln's,
murder, Judge Shea and Horace Greeley would testify that
they would be proved guilty of lying not Mr. Davis of
murder. If tried for treason not Mr. Davis but the whole
of the Republican party would be tried for treason, and
Chief Justice Chase would testify to this. If tried for
cruelty at Andersonville, Chas. Dana would testify to the
falsity of this charge — yet the Federal government kept
Mr. Davis in prison two years, and every day after for a
dozen or more years the Republican party continued to pour
on Mr. Davis' name streams of sulphuric hate."
His servants were greatly attached to him. He was always
just to them. When he died they wrote to Mrs. Davis:
"We, the old servants of our beloved master, have cause
to mingle our tears over his death. He was always so kind
and thoughtful of our peace and happiness. We extend
our humble sympathy."
JOHN P. SJOLANDEE:
"And whc,n the mints are blown from 'round the height
On which he lived, perchance some noble mind,
Born in that newer day and clearer light,
Up to its peak shall point out to mankind
The long white road he trod alone at night."
64 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
XIV.
Abraham Lincoln Must Have His Rightful Place in History.
AUTHORITY :
, Summed up, the services of Lincoln to the United States gov
ernment were:
Captain in the Black Hawk War.
One term in the House of Representatives, 1846.
Elected President of the United States by the Republican
party on a minority vote.
Re-elected President in 1865, over McClellan, by using his
power as commander-in-chief of the army.
He involved the United States in war by re-enforcing Fort
Sumter.
In the "Trent" affair he came very near involving the United
States in war with England.
He refused to aid Mexico against Maxmilian in 1863, and
thus kept the United States out of war.
He freed the slaves of the Southern States by a proclamation
that was unconstitutional.
He preserved the Union, not by a constitutional right, but
by armed might. (George Lunt, Herndon, Lamon, McClellan).
"Lincoln signed the liquor revenue bill and turned the
saloons loose on the country, thus undoing the previous
temperance work of the churches."
"He studied men more than he studied books. He knew
their strong points, and their weak points; he knew their
faults, their foibles, their whims and their caprices.
"He had few friends and fewer intimates. He unbo-om-
ed himself to none. He responded quickly to distress. He
was physically and morally brave. His will was immov
able yet he was the child of policy and expediency. He was
ambitious and aspiring. He was self-confident and never
hesitated to cross mental swords with the most brilliant.
"His real strength lay in knowing plain people for he
was one of them, and there are more plain people in the
world than any other kind. He saw their struggle and toil,
their griefs and tears. He knew how they thought and felt
and acted. He was their friend and they knew it. He knew
how to communicate with them in their speech and amuse
them by his jokes. He was an American, but an Ameri
can of a new national type."
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 65
GEORGE LUNT says :
" Lincoln was incapable of wide range of thought. He
was infirm of purpose led by sharper minds. He frequently
insisted upon minor points of consideration whether right
or wrong. A large majority of the people had never heard
of him before his nomination."
"He has been compared to Washington, but his loosely
constituted and indecisive character cannot be compared
to the high-toned and sagacious Washington." ("Origin
of Late War," p. 435.
"Mr. Lincoln was elected by the States not the people.
He received the majority of electoral votes but was nearly
one and a half million of votes in minority counting the
votes of the people. Although Mr. Lincoln was elected by
State rights yet he went to work at once to destroy State
rights.
"He had a way of illustrating by anecdote what his
wishes were thus not openly committing himself to any
thing that could politically be brought against him.
"By an anecdote he let Grant know that his terms of
surrender for Lee must be magnanimous. By an anecdote
he showed very plainly he desired President Davis to es
cape and not fall into the hands of the North. He knew
Davis could never be tried for treason, therefore, he did
not wish the test made. Had he lived, Sherman's terms of
surrender to Johnston would not have been so severely
% dealt with by the Cabinet, for those were the very terms
Lincoln would have wished, because of his injustice to the
South.
. "His death was the greatest blowT that could have be
fallen the South. Jefferson Davis said this, Howell Cobb
and other Southern statesmen said this. No statesmen,
North or South, rejoiced over the news of his death ex
cept Thad Stevens who desired to carry out his own Re
construction policy instead of Lincoln's.
"He realized that he would be obliged to free all slaves
by war, so he planned a bill to introduce into Congress to
pay $400,000,000 for slaves belonging to the slaveholders
of the North. He realized how this act of coercion which
brought on the war and his freeing of the slaves, and de
struction and confiscation of the life and property of the
Southern States had been caused by the acts of war, so his
policy for Reconstruction was made as magnanimous as
he dared or could be expected."
66 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
GODWIN, of "The Nation/' says:
"The first real breach in the Constitution was President
Lincoln's using his war power to abolish slavery."
THAD STEVENS:
"I will not stultify myself by supposing that Mr. Lin
coln has any warrant in the Constitution for dismembering
Virginia."
McCLURE, his friend, said:
"Mr. Lincoln swore to obey the Constitution, but in
eighteen months violated it by his Emancipation Procla
mation. ' '
MR. RHODES (Vol. IV., p. 213), says:
"There was no authority for the Proclamation by the
Constitution and laws — nor was there any statute that
warranted it."
Mr. Lincoln in all fairness must be judged by the truth of
history alone as recorded by the men of the North — those who
placed him in power. The evidence is very strong against him
as a violator of the Constitution.
WENDELL PHILLIPS, at the Cooper Institute, 1864, said:
"I judge Mr. Lincoln by his acts, his violations of the
law, his overthrow of liberty in the Northern States.
"I judge Mr. Lincoln by his words, his deeds, and so
judging him, I am unwilling to trust Abraham Lincoln with
the future of this country. ' '
PERCY GREGG said :
"Lincoln's order that Confederate commissions or let
ters of marque granted to private or public ships should
be disregarded and their crews treated as pirates, and all
medicines declared contraband of war, violated every rule
of civilized war and outraged the conscience of Christen
dom."
"Lincoln never hesitated to violate the Constitution when
he so desired. The Chief Justice testified to this. Lincoln
suspended the Writ of Habeas Corpus in 1861 ; he allowed
West Virginia to be formed from Virginia contrary to the
Constitution ; he issued his Emancipation Proclamation
without consulting his Cabinet and in violation of the Con
stitution."
"He consented to a cartel for exchange of prisoners Feb
ruary, 14. 1862. When it was to the advantage of the
North, faith was kept ; when it was to the advantage of the
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 67
South, it was violated." (See Cor. Lieut. Col. Ludlow and
Col. Quid, July 26, 1863).
"Had he been humane, he would not have allowed 38,000
men and women — editors, politicians, clergymen of good
character and honor — imprisoned in gloomy, damp case
ments, for no overt act, but simply because they were * Dem
ocrat suspects.' : ("Life and Times of Hannibal Hamlin,"
p. 393). (Bancroft's "Life of Seward/' Vol. 2, p. 254).
BOUTWELL, Congressman from Massachusetts, said :
"With varying degrees of intensity the whole Democratic
party sympathized with the South and arraigned Lincoln
and the Repuliean party for all the country endured."
"On Circuit With Lincoln," p. 364:
"Lincoln was not in any sense of the word an Abolition
ist. He had no intention to make voters of negroes — in fact
their welfare did not enter into his policy at all."
TARBELL :
"Mr. Chase was never able to see Mr. Lincoln's great
ness."
McCLURE :
"Chase was the most irritating fly in the Lincoln oint
ment,"
RHODES, Vol. IV., p. 320 :
"Lincoln's contemporaries failed to perceive his great
ness."
"Ben Wade and Henry W. Davis issued a manifesto
against him. Sumner, Wade, Davis, and Chase were his
'malicious foes.' Lincoln was forced to appoint Chase to
the office of Chief Justice in order to remove him from the
Cabinet, for he was said to be 'the irritating fly in the Lin
coln ointment.' Stanton called Lincoln 'a coward and a
fool.' Seward said he had 'a cunning that amounted to
genius.' Richard Dana said, 'The lack of respect for the
President by his Cabinet cannot be concealed/ He was
called ' the baboon at the other end of the avenue, ' and * the
idiot of the White House.' Had not Grant succeeded in
gaining a victory at Vicksburg, a movement to appoint a
Dictator in Lincoln's place would have gone into effect. |
His Cabinet had lost confidence in his policy."
BENJAMIN R. CURTIS, of the Supreme Court ("Executive Pow
er") says:
"The President has made himself a legislator. He has
68 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
enacted penal laws governing citizens of the United States.
He has super-added to his rights as commander the power
of usurper. He has established a military despotism. He
can now use the authority he has assumed to make himself
master of our lives, our liberties, our properties, with power
to delegate his mastership to such satraps as he may select. "
IDA TARBELL'S "Life of Lincoln" :
"In the winter of 1862- '63 many and many a man de
serted the army. They refusel to fight. Mr. Lincoln knew
that hundreds of soldiers were being urged by parents and
friends to desert. New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana
and Illinois reserved their vote. The people were weary of
war, weary of so much waste of life and money. Open dis
satisfaction was shown in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin
which broke out in violence over the draft for more men."
JOHN A. LOGAN, "Great Conspiracy," p. 551, Springfield, 111.,
June, 1863 :
"There was open and avowed hosttility to Lincoln in
Philadelphia, New York, Boston and strong opposition in
New Jersey. So violent was the hostility to war in Massa
chusetts and New York, the call of volunteers was unheed
ed, and when the government demanded a draft, the peo
ple gathered in crowds and fearful riots ensued. In New
York City the opposition was so violent, the rioters so
numerous, the city was terrified for. days and nights. The
houses in which the draft machines were at work were
wrecked and then burned to ashes. The order for draft
was rescinded by the government at Washington and the
people urged to disperse and to retire to their homes on
the promise that there would be no more drafting."
IDA TARBLL, p. 165, McClure's Magazine, January, 1893 :
"Many and many a man deserted in the winter of 1862-
'63, because of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. The
soldiers did not believe that Lincoln had the right to issue
it, and they refused to fight. Lincoln knew that hundreds
were deserting."
B. T. BUTLER says :
"During the whole war the Lincoln government was
rarely aided, but was unanimously impeded by the de
cisions of the Supreme Court, so that President Lincoln
was obliged to suspend the Writ of Habeas Corpus in order
to relieve himself from the rulings of the Court."
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 69
TARBELI/S "Life of Lincoln":
"It was declared that Lincoln had violated Constitu
tional rights, declared that he had violated personal liberty,
and the liberty of the press. It was said that Lincoln had
been guilty of all the abuses of a military dictatorship.
Much bitter criticism was made of his treatment of the
South 's peace commissioners. The despair, the indignation
of the country centered on Mr. Lincoln."
MORSE, "American Statesmen":
"Many distinguished men of his own party distrusted
him."
RICHARD A. DANA, (Letters to Thomas Lathrop), February 23,
1863:
"I see no hope but in the army; the lack of respect for
the President in all parties is unconcealed. He has no ad
mirers. If a convention were held tomorrow he would not
get the vote of a single state."
WENDELL PHILLIPS:
"As long as you keep the present turtle (Mr. Lincoln)
at the head of affairs you make a pit with one hand, and
fill it with the other."
WENDELL PHILLINS :
"The re-election of Abraham Lincoln will be National
destruction. ' '
McCLURE :
"It is an open secret that Stanton advised the overthrow
of the Lincoln government to be replaced by McClellan as
military dictator. ' '
HAPGOOD'S "Life of Lincoln":
"Charles A. Dana testifies that the whole power of the
War Department was used to secure Lincoln's re-election
in 1864. There is no doubt that this is true. Purists may
turn pale at such things, but the world wants no prettified
portrait of Mr. Lincoln's Jesuitical ability to use the fox's
skin \vhen the lion's proves too short and that was one part
of his enormous value."
RICHARD H. DANA, March, 1863, in a letter to Charles Francis
Adams, Sr., Minister to England, said :
"If a Republican Convention was to be held tomorrow he
would not get the vote of a single state. He is an unspeak
able calamity to us where he is."
70 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
LAMON'S "Life of Lincoln":
"No phase of Mr. Lincoln's character has been so per
sistently misrepresented as this of his religious belief."
HERNDON'S "Life of Lincoln":
"Abraham Lincoln became more discreet in later life
and used words and phrases to make it appear that he was
a Christian. He never changed on this subject. He lived
and died a deep-grounded infidel."
LAMON'S "Life of Lincoln":
"Mr. Lincoln went to church, but he went to mock and
came away to mimic."
HAPGOOD'S "Life of Lincoln," p. 183:
"All the clergy in Springfield voted against Lincoln."
LAMON :
"The people all drank, and Abe was for doing what the
people did, right or wrong."
E. C. INGERSOLL:
"President Lincoln is now clothed with power as full as
that of the Czar of Russia."
HENRY WARD BEECHER:
"I know it is said that President Lincoln is not the gov
ernment ; that the Constitution is the government. What !
A sheep-skin parchment a government. President Lincoln
and his Cabinet is now the government."
VIEWS ON SLAVERY.
LINCOLN said, (Hapgood's "Abraham Lincoln, The Man of The
People," p. 273) :
"If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves I
would do it."
ALLEN THORNDIKE RICE says, ("Reminiscences of Lincoln,"
p. 14) :
"Lincoln did not free the negro for the sake of the slave,
but for the sake of the Union. It is an error to class him
with the noble band of Abolitionists to whom neither church
nor state were sacred when it sheltered slavery."
HERNDON, Lincoln's law partner:
"When Lovejoy the zealous Abolitionist came to Spring-
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 71
field to speak against slavery, Lincoln left town to avoid
taking sides either for or against Abolition."
LINCOLN said:
"Slaves are property, and if freed should be paid for."
We cannot hold him up as a hater of slavery. Abraham
Lincoln did not free the slaves because he hated slavery, nor for
any love for the African race, nor for any desire to give them
suffrage or social equality. In his campaign speeches, he said
he had no thought of freeing the slaves. In his Inaugural Ad
dress he said the same. He made Hunter and Fremont in Mis
souri countermand their acts freeing the slaves in conquered
territory in the early years of the war, saying, "they could not
by the Constitution do it," and "the war was not being fought
with any view of freeing the slaves."
Congress had declared to Benjamin Franklin and to the
Quakers that, it had no right to free the slaves. The Constitu
tion had not been amended, but Lincoln approved an act in
1861 which said "Congress had the right to abolish slavery in
the States" and this allowed the Constitution to be violated
again.
Mr. Lincoln was an adroit politician. When dealing with the
South, he said:
"I have no Constitutional right to free your slaves, and
no desire to do so."
When dealing with the Border States, he said:
"Slavery is not to be interfered with."
When dealing with the Republican party, he said:
' ' This country cannot remain half slave and half free. ' '
When dealing with the Abolitionists, he said :
"This war is against slavery."
When dealing with Foreign Nations, he said:
"The slaves must be emancipated." — Lunt.
He said he had no desire to free the slaves. — (Inaugural Ad
dress).
He said he had no Constitutional right to free them. — (In
augural Address).
He said if freed they should be segregated. — (Butler's
Works) .
He said he never desired nor intended to give them political
nor social equality. — (Butler's Works).
72 THE TRUTHS OP HISTORY
LINCOLN'S PROMISES.
INAUGURAL ADDRESS :
"Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the
Soiithern States that by the accession of a Republican ad
ministration their property and their peace and personal
security are to be endangered. There has never been any
reasonable cause for such apprehension.
"I have no purpose directly or indirectly to interfere
with the institution of slavery in the States where it ex
ists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have
no inclination to do so."
In his letter to Alexander Stephens, who wrote expressing
his sympathy for him in the great responsibility resting upon
him as President in those perilous days, he said :
("For your eye only.")
"Do the people of the South really entertain fear that a
/ Republican administration would directly or indirectly
interfere with their slaves, or with them about their slaves?
If they do, I wish to assure you as once a friend, and still,
I hope, not an enemy, that there is no cause for such fears.
The South would be in no more danger in this respect than
it was in the days of Washington." ("Public and Private
Letters of Alexander Stephens/' p. 150).
VIEWS ON COLONIZATION OF THE NEGRO.
President Lincoln in his Emancipation Proclamation evidently
had in mind to colonize or segregate the slaves if freed.
"It is my purpose to colonize persons of African descent,
with their consent, upon this continent or elsewhere, with
the previously obtained consent of the government existing
there."
"From the time of his election as President he was striv
ing to find some means of colonizing the negroes. An ex
periment had been made of sending them to Liberia, but it
was a failure, and he wished to try another colony, hoping
that would be successful. He sent one colony to Cow
Island under Koch as overseer, but he proved very cruel
to the negroes and they begged to return. He then asked
for an appropriation of money from Congress to purchase
land in Central America, but Central America refused to
sell and said, 'Do not send the negroes here.' Th;> North
said, 'Do not send the negroes here.'
"It was agreed then that a Black Territory should be
set apart for the segregation of the negroes in Texas, Mis-
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 73
sissippi and South Carolina — but Lincoln was unhappy, and
in despair — he asked Ben Butler's advice, saying:
" 'If we turn 200,000 armed negroes in the South, among
their former owners, from whom we have taken their arms,
it will inevitably lead to a race war. It cannot be done.
The negroes must be gotten rid of. Ben Butler said:
'Why not send them to Panama to dig the canal?' (See
Butler's Book).
Lincoln was delighted at the suggestion, and asked Butler
to consult Seward at once. Only a few days later John Wilkes
Booth assassinated Lincoln and one of his conspirators wounded
Seward. What would have been the result had Lincoln lived
cannot be estimated. The poor negroes would possibly have
been sent to that place of yellow fever and malarial dangers to
perish from the face of the earth, for we had no Gorgas of Ala
bama to study our sanitary laws for them at that time.
VIEWS ON SOCIAL EQUALITY OF THE NEGRO.
In his speech at Charleston, 111., 1858, Lincoln said :
"I am not now, nor ever have been in favor of bringing
about in any way the social or political equality of the
white and black races. I am not now nor ever have been
in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qual
ifying them to hold office, nor of intermarriages with white
people. There is a physical difference between the white
and the black races which will forever forbid the two races
living together on social or political equality. There must
be a position of superior and inferior, and I am in favor of
assigning the superior position to the white man."
MUZZEY'S "American History/' p. 486. (Dr. Muzzey is the
teacher of history at Columbia College, New York) :
"Lincoln had no idea of forcing the South to give a single
slave political rights."
In his speech at Peoria, 111., he said :
"We know that some Southern men do free their slaves,
go North and become tip-top abolitionists, while some
Northern men go South and become most cruel masters.
"When Southern people tell us that they are no more
responsible for the origin of slavery than we are, I acknowl
edge the fact. When it is said the institution exists, and it
is very difficult to get rid of in any satisfactory way, I can
understand and appreciate the saying. I surely will not
74 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
blame them for not doing what I should not know how to
do myself. If all earthly power were given me, I should
not know what to do as to the existing institution My
first impulse would possibly be to free all the slaves and
send them to Liberia to their own native land. But a mo
ment's reflection would convince me that this would not
be best for them. If they were all landed there in a day
they would all perish in the next ten days, and there is not
surplus money enough to carry them there in many times
ten days. What then ? Free them all and keep them among
us as underlings. Is it quite certain that this would alter
their condition? Free them and make them politically
and socially our equals? My own feelings will not admit
of this, and if mine would, we well know tha-t those of the
great mass of whites will not. We cannot make them our
equals. A system of gradual emancipation might be adopt
ed, and I will not undertake to judge our Southern friends
for tardiness in this matter."
"At Peoria ,111., in 1854, he said: 'I acknowledge the
constitutional rights of the States — not grudgingly, but
fairly and fully, and I will give them any legislation for
reclaiming their fugitive slaves.'
"The point the Republican party wanted to stress was
to oppose making slave States out of the newly acquired
territory, not abolishing slavery as it then existed. Lincoln
spoke of anti-slavery men in 1862 as 'Radicals and Abo
litionists. ' Rhodes said that the abolitionists said, 'The
President is not with us; he has no anti-slavery instincts/ "
(Rhodes' "History of United States," Vol. IV., p. 64).
EMANCIPATION.
GEORGE LUNT says:
"Emancipation is not within the scope of the Constitu-
tution, or in any degree at the disposition of the United
States government, and can mean nothing else than revolu
tion for which the abolitionists are striving. Revolution
can only be justified by oppression and the power of op
pression is not with the South."
MORSE'S "Abraham Lincoln/' Vol. II., p. 102:
"I felt that measures otherwise unconstitutional might
become lawful by becoming indispensable. Right or wrong,
I assume this ground and now avow it."
CARPENTER repeats the President's words:
"I put the draft of the Proclamation aside, waiting for
a victory. Finally came the week of Antietam. I deter
mined to wait no longer. I was then staying at the Sol-
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 75
diers' Home. Here I finished writing the second draft of
the proclamation.; called the Cabinet together to hear it,
and it was published the following Monday. I made a sol
emn vow before God that if General Lee was driven back
from Maryland I would crown the result by the declaration
of freedom to the slaves." (Barnes' "Popular History,"
Chap. XV.)
RHODES' "History of the United States/' Vol. IV., p. 344:
"His Emancipation Proclamation was not issued from a
humane standpoint. He hoped it would incite the negroes
to rise against the women and children."
"His Emancipation Proclamation was intended only as
a punishment for the seceding States. It was with no
* thought of freeing the slaves of more than 300,000 slave
holders then in the Northern army.
"His Emancipation Proclamation was issued for a four
fold purpose and it was issued with fear and trepidation
lest he should offend his Northern constituents. He did it :
FIRST :
"Because of an oath — that if Lee should be driven from
Maryland he would free the slaves. (Barnes and Guerber).
SECOND :
"The time of enlistment had expired for many men in
the army and he hoped this would encourage re-enlistment.
THIRD:
"Trusting that Southern men would be forced to return
home to protect their wives and children from negro in
surrection.
FOURTH :
"Above all he issued it to prevent foreign nations from
recognizing the Confederacy."
RHODES, Vol. IV. :
"The House of Lords was almost unanimously for the
South, as was the majority of the House of Commons,
elected in that day by about a million voters."
WENDELL PHILLIPS :
"Lincoln was badgered into emancipation. After he is
sued it, he said it was the greatest folly of his life. It was
like the Pope's bull against the comet. "
Was he satisfied with its effect? Let us see what happened.
"McClure's Magazine/' January, 1893, p. 165; also Tarbell:
"Many and many a man deserted in the winter of 1862-
'63 because of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation The
76 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
soldiers did not believe that Lincoln had the right to issue
it. They refused to fight."
WENDELL PHILLIPS said:
"Lincoln acknowledged that the Emancipation Procla
mation was the greatest folly of his life."
NICOLAY & HAY, Vol. II, p. 261 :
"There were great losses in the elections in consequence
of the Emancipation Proclamation."
EXTRACT FROM LETTER, September 28, 1863, from Abraham
Lincoln to Hannibal Hamlin:
"While I hope something from this proclamation, my
expectations are not so sanguine as are those of some
friends. The time for its effect southward has not come;
but northward the effect should be instantneous. It is six
days old and while commendation in newspapers and by
distinguished individuals is all that a vain man could wish,
the stocks have declined and troops come forward more
slowly than ever. This looked squarely in the face is not
very satisfactory. We have fewer troops in the field at the
end of six days than we had at the beginning — the attrition
among the old, outnumbering the addition by the new. The
North responds to the proclamation sufficiently in breath;
but breath alone kills no rebels. I wish I could write more
cheerfully."
Not a negro in the States that did not secede was freed by
Lincoln's Proclamation and it had no effect even in the South
as it was unconstitutional and Lincoln knew it. Many in the
North resented it, and Lincoln was unhappy over the situation
as Lamon testified. The negroes were freed by an amendment
offered by a Southern man, John Brooks Henderson of Missouri.
Emancipation did not become a law until after Lincoln's death.
It is really a farce for negroes to celebrate Emancipation Day,
and give Lincoln the credit.
Did Abraham Lincoln keep his pledge?
"On January 1, 1863, the second writing of the Emancipa
tion Proclamation was read. The members of the Cabinet
noticed that the name of God was not mentioned in it, and
reminded the President that such an important document
should recognize the name of the Deity. Lincoln said he
had overlooked that fact and asked the Cabinet to assist
him in preparing a paragraph recognizing G-od. Chief Jus
tice Chase prepared it:
'I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and
the gracious favor of Almighty God.'
It was accepted without a change."
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 77
SCHOULER'S "History of the United States/' Vol. VI., p. 21:
"People found in Lincoln before his death nothing re
markably good or great, but on the contrary found in him
the reverse of goodness or greatness.
"Lincoln as one of Fame's immortals does not appear in
the Lincoln of 1861."
HORACE GREELEY said (p. 274) :
"I cannot trust 'honest old Abe' — he is too smart for
me."
JUDGE JEREMIAH S. BLACK of Pennsylvania said (Black's "Es
says/' p. 153) :
"Of the wanton cruelties that Lincoln's administration
has inflicted upon unoffending citizens, I have neither space
nor skill, nor time, to paint them — since the fall of Robes
pierre, nothing has occurred to cast such disrepute on Re
publican institutions. ' '
DON PIATT'S "Reminiscences of Lincoln," p. 21:
"Had Lincoln lived could he have justified the loss of
more than a million lives and the destruction of more than
eight billions of dollars of property on a Constitutional
basis? Of course he could not, and would not have been
considered worthy of the honors heaped on him because of
his martyrdom."
"I hear of Lincoln and read of him in eulogies and biog
raphies and fail to recognize the man I knew in private life
before he became President of the United States."
CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, the Massachusetts historian, says:
"When the Federal Constitution was adopted, in the
case of final issue to whom did the average citizen owe al
legiance? Was it to the Union or to his State?
"Sweeping aside all legal arguments and metaphysical
disquisitions — I do not think the answer admits of doubt.
Nine men out of ten in the North and ninety-nine out of a
hundred in the South would have said ultimate allegiance
was due the State.
"How then can \^e justify the acts of Lincoln's adminis
tration ?
"An unconstitutional platform called for an unconstitu
tional policy.
"An unconstitutional policy called for an unconstitu
tional coercion.
"An unconstitutional coercion called for an unconstitu
tional war.
78 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
"An unconstitutional war called for an unconstitutional
despotism.
"Authority uncontrolled and unlimited by men, by Con
stitution, by Supreme Court, or by law was Lincoln's war
policy. ' '
The St. Louis "Globe-Democrat," March 6, 1898:
"Where now is the man so rash as to even warmly crit
icize Abraham Lincoln?"
One adverse comment subjects one to the accusation either of
prejudice or injustice.
"In seeking the truth about him, it would be most un
just to take only the testimony of his enemies, and it would
be equally as unjust to take only the testimony of his
glorifiers. Lincoln was a man as other men with weak
points and strong points of character, and the fairest tes
timony ought to come from those who knew him best, loved
.him well, honored him and yet were friendly enough, truth
ful enough and just enough to see and acknowledge his
faults.'1
In the Preface to "The True Story of a Great Life," written
by Herndon and Weik after the first "Life of Lincoln," by
Herndon had been destroyed is found this :
"With a view of throwing light on some attributes of Mr.
Lincoln 's character hitherto obscure these volumes are given
to the world. The whole truth concerning Mr. Lincoln
should be known. The truth will at last come out, and no
man need hope to evade it. Some persons will doubtless
object to the narrative of certain facts, but these facts are
indispensable to a full knowledge of Mr. Lincoln. We
must have all the facts about him. We must be prepared
to take Mr. Lincoln as he was. Mr.' Lincoln was my warm
and personal friend. My purpose to tell the truth about
him need occasion no apprehension. God's naked truth
cannot injure his fame."
LAMON'S "Life of Lincoln" :
"The ceremony of Mr. Lincoln's apotheosis was planned
and executed after his death by men who were unfriendly
to him while he lived. Men who had exhausted the re
sources of their skill and ingenuity in venomous detrac
tions of the living Lincoln were the first after his death,
to undertake the task of guarding his memory not as a
human being, but as a god."
LAMON again says :
"There was fierce rivalry who should canonize Mr. Lin
coln in the most solemn ^words ; who should compare him
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 79
to the most sacred character in all history. He was proph
et, priest, and king, he was Washington, he was Moses, he
was likened to Christ the Redeemer, he was likened unto
God. After that came the ceremony of apotheosis. And
this was the work of men who never spoke of the living
Lincoln except with jeers and contempt. After his death
it became a political necessity to pose him as 'the greatest,
wisest, Godliest man that ever lived.' J
LAMON :
" Those ^who scorned and reviled him while living were
Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. Chase; Secretary of
War, Edwin Stanton; Vice-President, Hannibal Hamlin;
Secretary of State, Wm. Seward, Fremont; Senators Sum-
ner, Trumbull, Ben Wade, Henry Wilson, Thaddeus Ste
vens, Henry Ward Beecher, Wendell Phillips, Winter
Davis, Horace Greeley, Zack Chandler of Michigan, and a
host of others. "
General Don Piatt travelled with Lincoln when he was making
his campaign speeches, hence knew him intimately.
GENERAL DON PIATT says:
"When a leader dies all good men go to lying about
him. From the moment that covers his remains to the
last echo of the rural press, in speeches, in sermonts, eulo
gies, reminiscences, we hear nothing but pious lies."
GENERAL PIATT continues:
"Abraham Lincoln has almost disappeared from human
knowledge. I hear of him, I read of him in eulogies and
biographies but I fail to recognize the man I knew in life."
GENERAL PIATT says :
"Lincoln faced and lived through the awful responsi
bility of the war with a courage that came from indiffer
ence."
One may say the spirit of that Gettysburg address should
be emulated.
Lamon says that "is not the speech Mr. Lincoln made at
Gettysburg."
Nicolay says "it was revised."
Lamon says all that the biographers say of "Mr. Everett's
commendatory words is bosh."
Mr. Everett was disappointed in the speech and so was Mr.
Seward.
80 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
LAMON, in his "Recollections of Lincoln/' said after the speech
was over Lincoln said:
"Lamon, that speech was like a wet blanket on the au
dience. I am distressed about it,"
On the platform, Mr. Seward asked Everett, the orator of the
day, what he thought of the President's speech.
MR. EVERETT replied:
"It is not what I expected. I am disappointed. What
do you think of it, Mr. Seward?"
MR. SEWAKD replied:
"He has made a failure."
See (on p. 173) what Lamon says occurred after his death:
" 'Amid the tears, sobs and cheers it produced in the
excited throng, the orator of the day (Mr. Everett) turned
to Mr. Lincoln, grasped his hand and exclaimed: 'I con
gratulate you on your success,' adding in a transport of
heated enthusiasm, 'Mr. President, how gladly would I give
my hundred pages to be the author of your twenty lines.'
"Nothing of the kind ever occurred. I state it as a fact
and without fear of contradiction, that this Gettysburg
speech was not regarded as a production of extraordinary
merit, nor was it commented on as such until after the
death of Mr. Lincoln.
"The fame of Lincoln concentrates its vital power upon
his achievements in the sphere of oratory. Above all> does
this criterion, or test, hold good of his much-vaunted Get
tysburg address, delivered November 19, 1863. By one of
those revealing ironies to which both literary and oratorical
renown are ever subject the special phrase that has been
most thoroughly ingrained and assimilated into the heart
and speech of the world traces its suggestion, if not its
specific origin, to Webster's memorable reply to Hayne
during the historic debate of January, 1830. By ref
erence to Webster's argument as edited by Bradley 's "Ora
tions and Arguments (p. 227, par. 5), the reader will dis
cover at a glance the very essence of the language, 'govern
ment of the people, by the people, and for the people,' so
intensely associated with the memory of Lincoln. Note the
harmony existing between the words of Webster uttered in
1830 and those which fell from Lincoln at Gettysburg in
November, 1863:
" 'It is the people's government, made for the people,
made by the people, and answerable to the people/ (Brad
ley, p. 227, par. 5).
"The resemblance existing between the passages cited is
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 81
too minute and definite to admit of explanation as a mere
coincidence of form or a simple analogy in the mode of ex
position. Even if we waive the charge of willful plagiar
ism, the most exuberant charity cannot ignore or condone
the palpable and wanton imitation of the thought and dic
tion of Daniel Webster."
HENRY E. SHEPHERD, Baltimore, Md. :
"It is now quite well known that Mr. Lincoln did not
write the Gettysburg speech as it appears in all text books
on American Literature which have been wrritten by North
ern men, and in nearly all Readers used in Southern schools.
His intimate friend, Lamon's testimony is corroborated by
William Seward, Edward Everett, who sat on the stage
with him, and others who were present when the speech
was made. And yet Jefferson Davis the author of several
published books is omitted from the text books of Ameri
can Literature written by Northern men, and Abraham
Lincoln put in because of a speech he never wrote. ' '
Did Lincoln \yrite that speech accredited to him, or was it
doctored by one of his ardent admirers ?
Montgomery City, Mo., The Star:
"It was" my privilege to be present at the dedication of
the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg the after
noon of November 19, 1863, and to hear the now famous
address of Abraham Lincoln on that occasion. I can bear
witness to the fact that this address, pronounced by Edward
Everett to be unequalled in the annals of oratory, fell upon
unappreciative ears, wa-s entirely unnoticed and wholly
disappointing to a majority of the hearers. This may have
been owing in part to the careless and undemonstrative
delivery of the orator, but the fact is that he had concluded
his address and resumed his seat before most of the audi
ence realized that he had begun to speak. It was my good
fortune as a newspaper correspondent to occupy a place
directly beside Mr. Lincoln when he delivered this brief
oration and on the other side of the speaker was W, H.
Seward. Other members of the Cabinet had seats on the
stand and I also noticed Governor Curtin, Seymour, Tod,
Morton and Bradford; Edward Everett and Col. John
W. Forney.
"At the conclusion of Mr. Everett's scholarly oration,
Mr. Lincoln faced the vast audience. He looked haggard
and pale and wore a shabby overcoat, from an inside pock
et of which he drew a small roll of manuscript. He read
his address in a sort of drawling monotone, the audience re
maining perfectly silent. The few pages were soon fin-
82 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY ,
ished. Mr. Lincoln doubled up his manuscript, thrust it
back into his overcoat pocket and sat down — not a word,
not a cheer, not a shout. The people looked at one another,
seeming to say, 'Is that all?'
"I am well aware that accounts have differed as to the
manner of this address and its reception by the audience.
I was an eye witness and hearer and my position was imme
diately beside the speaker, therefore the foregoing account
may be relied upon." (W. H. Cunningham, Reporter for
The Star, Montgomery City, Mo.)
HISTORY before his martyrdom said:
"Lincoln detested science and literature. No man can
put his finger on any book written in the last or present
century that Lincoln read through. He read little." (Hern-
don).
HERNDON, in his "Story of a Great Life/' says on page 47:
"When Abe saw that Grisby was getting the best of the
fight, he burst through the ring, caught Grisby, threw him
some feet distant ; then stood up, proud as Lucifer, swing
ing a bottle of liquor over his head and swearing aloud, 'I
am the big buck of the lick ! If anybody doubts it let him
come and whet his horns/ 3
Lamon in his "Life of Lincoln/' tells the same story only
adds that Grisby challenged him to shoot with pistols, but Lin
coln replied : " I am not going to fool away my life on a single
shot."
Lincoln should not be held up as an example for Christian
children.
HERNDON'S letter to Lamon:
"In New Salem Mr. Lincoln lived with a class of men,
moved with them, had his being with them. They were
scoffers of religion, made loud protests against the follow
ers of Christianity. They denied that Jesus Christ was the
Son of God. They ridiculed old divines, and made them
skeptics by their logic. In 1835 Mr. Lincoln wrote a book
on infidelity and intended to have it published but Hill,
believing that if the book should be published it would kill
Lincoln as a politician, threw it into a stove and it went up
in smoke and ashes before Lincoln could seize it.
"When Mr. Lincoln became a candidate for the Legisla
ture he was accused of being an infidel and he never de
nied it. He was accused of saying Jesus was not the Son
of God, and he never denied it.
"In 1854 he made me erase the name of God from a speech
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 83
1 was about to make. He did this also to one of his friends
in Washington City.
t "I know when he left Springfield for Washington he had
undergone no change in his opinion on religion. ' '
DENNIS HANKS,, Lincoln's first cousin, says:
"Abe would often collect a crowd of boys and men
around him to make fun of the preacher. He frequently
reproduced the sermon with a nasal twang, rolling his eyes,
and all sorts of droll aggravations, to the great delight of
the wild fellows assembled. Sometimes he broke out with
stories passably humorous and invariably vulgar."
MR. JESSE E. FALL,, one of Lincoln's intimate friends, says:
"Mr. Lincoln's friends were not a little surprised at
finding in his biographies statements of his religious opin
ions utterly at variance with his known sentiments."
Again HERNDON says:
"His stepmother denied that he ever went into a corner
to ponder sacred writings and wet the pages with his
tears of penitence."
LAMON, in his "Life of Lincoln/' says:
"When he went to New Salem he consorted with free"
thinkers, and joined them in deriding the gospel story of
Jesus. He wrote a labored book on this subject, which 'his
friend Hill burned up. Not until after Mr. Lincoln's death
were any of these facts denied." »
DENNIS HANKS says:
"Abe did not sing sacred songs, but the songs he sang
were of a very questionable character."
On page 63 of LAMON'S "Life of Lincoln" is found:
"Abe wrote many satires which are only remembered
in fragments; if we had them in full they would be too
indecent to print."
If Abraham Lincoln had believed that God's Word is in
spired, and had believed in the Divinity of our Lord, and had
ever connected himself with a Christian church then he could
be held up as a model, possibly, for Christian children to emu-'
late. But as he failed in all these essentials for a Christian's
belief and practice it is dangerous to have our young people
have him held up as an exemplar.
They would feel it is not necessary to believe in God's Word;
it is not necessary to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of
God; it is not necessary to publicly confess Him before men.
84 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
They would naturally think if * ' the greatest man that ever lived
in the world" did not find these things necessary, why should
they?
Holland's "Life of Lincoln" is a "Pretended Life of Lin
coln," written after his apotheosis begun.
Ida Tarbell's "Life of Lincoln" was called by Herndon and
Lamon a "So-called Life of Lincoln."
It will not be safe for ministers of the gospel, editors of
Christian newspapers, Sunday School teachers, public speakers
or true historians to quote from those who deified Lincoln after
martyrdom.
PART II.
Abraham Lincoln As He Was Not — (After His Assassination).
AUTHORITY:
Northern writers claim that Abraham Lincoln was ' ' the great
est man that ever lived;" that he was "the Godliest man that
has walked the earth since Christ."
ALBERT BUSHNELL HART :
"Abraham Lincoln was the greatest man of the Civil
War Period."
SUNDAY SCHOOL TIMES:
' ' Abraham Lincoln is the Christian exemplar for children
today."
JUDD STEWART, Address, North Plainfield, N. J., Feb. 10, 1917 :
"Here in this new world country with no pride of an
cestry arose the greatest man since the meek and lowly
Nazarene ; a man whose life had a greater influence on the
human race than any teacher, thinker or toiler since the
beginning of the Christian Era."
P. D. Ross, an Englishman, in "Harper's Weekly," November
. 7, 1908, said:
"Abraham Lincoln is the greatest man that the world
has ever possessed."
DON PIATT, after Lincoln's martyrdom, says:
"The greatest figure looming up in our history."
Stanton, before his death, in a letter to President Buchanan,
expressed his contempt for Lincoln. He also advised the revo-
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 85
lutionary overthrow of the Lincoln government in order that
McClellan be made military dictator.
After his assassination, standing over Lincoln's dead body,
he said, "Now he belongs to the ages."
JOHN HAY, Secretary of State, said (after Lincoln's death) :
"Abraham Lincoln, First President of the Republican
party, the greatest, wisest, Godliest man that has appeared
on earth since Christ. ' '
J. G. HOLLAND:
"Lincoln unequalled since "Washington in services to the
Nation."
J. G. HOLLAND waited until after Lincoln died to say:
"Mr. Lincoln will always be remembered as eminently a
Christian President. Conscience, not popular applause,
not love of power, was the ruling motive of Lincoln's life.
No stimulant ever entered his mouth, no profanity ever
came from his lips."
J. G. HOLLAND:
"Abraham Lincoln was the first of all men who have
walked the earth since the Nazarene. ' '
WILLIAM M. DAVIDSON:
"Abraham Lincoln was the greatest statesmen of the
Nineteenth Century."
J. B. WADE:
"History will show Abraham Lincoln to be the greatest
man that ever lived."
J. M. MERRILL, in Detroit Free Press, says :
"Abraham Lincoln is so far above every other man in
human history that to compare him to others seems sac-
sacrilege.
"No where on the earth is there a historic character to
compare to our sainted martyr, Abraham Lincoln. ' '
If this adulation of him was taken from what was said of him
before his martyrdom the South would be willing to accept it—
but the South is not willing to accept what has been said of him
since that period, for it does not tally with his life as given by
his friends and those who knew him best. Herndon, his friend
and law partner for twenty years; Lamon, an intimate friend
and one who often acted as private secretary to him; his step
mother, whom he idolized ; Dennis Hanks, his cousin and play
mate — all of these loved him, but were honest, saw his faults
and were willing to acknowledge them.
86 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
Testimony such as: John Hay, his Secretary of State, Nico-
lay, a personal friend, Ida Tarbell and J. G. Holland, who put
him on a pedestal, worshipped him and were blind to his faults,
should not be held as reliable.
WALTER MCELREATH, after reading Rothschild's "Lincoln:
Master of Men" :
"Mr. Lincoln was not an ordinary man we all agree,
but greatness is a relative term and considering the oppor
tunities and responsibilities and station which Mr. Lincoln
occupied he must be judged by the standards of greatness
by which other great men are judged. Judging him by
these standards I cannot see how Mr. Lincoln was at all a
great man or how he can be said to possess even the second
order of greatness.
"How can a man be considered great when the men as
sociated with him four years in such an enterprise as civil
war were not impressed with his greatness until the enter
prise was over, is more than I can understand.
"McClellan had known him years before the war and was
not impressed with his greatness. Chase, Seward and Stan-
ton never thought him a great man until after his death.
It is strange that such men living close to him for four years
could not recognize in him some signs of greatness while
he lived. I cannot see anything great in his choice of men
or generals. His ministers were chosen to remove them
from opposition to the administration. He held the power
to depose — his mastery over men came from his power to
exercise unlimited authority."
JAS. A. STEVENS:
"Mr. Lincoln was a great man and a patriot, yet there
is no doubt his cruel taking off had not a little to do with
his exaltation to the position he now occupies in the eyes
of a sympathetic world."
DR. LITTLEFIELD, Needham, Mass.:
"Lee's shrine at Lexington, not Lincoln's tomb, will be
the shrine of American patriotism when once history is
told correctly."
XV.
Reconstruction Was Not Just to the South. This Injustice
Made the Ku Klux Klan a Necessity.
AUTHORITY:
RIDPATH'S "Universal History," p. 176:
"It was soon seen, however, by Congress and the North,
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 87
to follow the method suggested by President Johnson would
be to remand at once the control of the lately seceded States
into the hand of the old Confederate party. Right or
wrong, it was determined that this should not be done, and
Congress determined that the military and suppressive
method of governing the seceded States should be em
ployed."
MUZZEY'S "American History," p. 486:
"The rules of these negro governments of 1868 was an
indescribable orgy of extravagance, fraud and disgusting
incompetence — a travesty on government. Unprincipled
politicians dominated the States' government and plunged
the States further and further into debt by voting them
selves enormous salaries, and reaping in many ways hun-.
dreds of thousands of dollars in graft. In South Carolina
$200,000 were spent in furnishing the State Capitol with
costly plate glass mirrors, lounges, arm chairs, a free bar
, and other luxurious appointments for the use of the negro
and scalawag legislators. It took the South nine years to
get rid of these governments."
MARK TWAIN said:
"The eight years in America, 1860-1868, uprooted insti
tutions centuries old, and wrought so profoundly upon the
national character of the people that its influence will be
felt for two or three generations."
"Secret Political Societies in the South,," by Walter Henry
Cook, Cleveland, Ohio, Western Reserve University:
' ' A new economic system could have been built up by the
men and women of the South with freed slaves had they
been left alone. The policy of Thad Stevens and Charles
Sumner after Lincoln's death stirred up ex-slaves to hate
the white men of the South, especially when they preached
a gospel of social equality for which the men of the South
would not stand under any circumstances."
The next quotation is from Dan Vorhees, Representative for
many years, and later a United States Senator from Indiana.
In his speech, "Plunder of Eleven States," made in the House
of Representatives, March 23, 1872, he pictures well the animus
of Reconstruction. He said :
"From turret to foundation you tore down the govern
ment of eleven States. You left not one stone upon another.
You not only destroyed their local laws, but you trampled
upon their ruins. You called conventions to frame new
Constitutions for these old States. You not only said who
should be elected to rule over these States, but you said
88 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
who should elect them. You fixed the quality and the color
of the voters. You purged the ballot box of intelligence
and virtue, and in their stead you placed the most ignorant
and unqualified race in the world to rule over these peo
ple."
Then taking State by State he showed what Thad Stevens'
policy had done :
1 'Let the great State of Georgia speak first," he said.
"You permitted her to stand up and start in her new ca
reer, but seeing some flaw in your handiwork, you again
destroyed and again reconstructed her State government.
You clung to her throat; you battered her features out of
shape and recognition, determined that your party should
have undisputed possession and enjoyment of her offices,
her honors, and her substance. Then bound hand and foot
you handed her over to the rapacity of robbers. Her pro
lific and unbounded resources inflamed their desires.
"In 1861 Georgia was free from debt. Taxes were light
as air. The burdens of government were easy upon her
citizens. Her credit stood high, and when the war closed
she was still free from indebtedness. After six years of
Republican rule you. present her, to the horror of the world,
loaded with a debt of $50,000,000, and the crime against
Georgia is the crime this same party has committed against
the other Southern States. Your work of destruction was
more fatal than a scourge of pestilence, war or famine.
"Rufus B. Bullock, Governor of Georgia, dictated the
legislation of Congress, and the great commonwealth of
Georgia was cursed by his presence. With such a Gov
ernor, and such a legislature in perfect harmony, morally
and politically, their career will go down to posterity with
out a rival for infamous administrations of the world. That
Governor served three years and then absconded with all
of the gains. The Legislature of two years spent $100.000
more than had been spent during any eight previous years.
They even put the children's money, laid aside for educa
tion of white and black, into their own pockets."
When Senator Voorhees came to South Carolina, the proud
land of Marion and Sumter, his indignation seems to have
reached its pinnacle:
"There is no form of ruin to which she has not fallen a
prey, no curse with which she has not been baptized, no cup
of humiliation and suffering her people have not drained
to the dregs. There she stands the result of your handi
work, bankrupt, in money, ruined in credit, her bonds
hnwkod about the streets at ten cents on the dollar, her
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 89
prosperity blighted at home and abroad, without peace,
happiness, or hope. There she stands with her skeleton
frame admonishing all the world of the loathsome conse
quences of a government fashioned in hate and fanaticism,
and founded upon the ignorant and vicious classes of man
hood. Her sins may have been many and deep, and the
color of scarlet, yet they will become as white as snow in
comparison with those you have committed against her in
the hour of her helplessness and distress. "
Then he took up in like manner State after State, and wound
up with this:
"I challenge the darkest annals of the human race for a
parallel to the robberies which have been perpetrated on
these eleven American States. Had you sown seeds of kind
ness <and good will they would long ere this have blossomed
into prosperity and peace. Had you sown seeds of honor,
you would have reaped a golden harvest of contentment
and obedience. Had you extended your charities and your
justice to a distressed people you would have awakened a
grateful affection in return. But as you planted in hate
and nurtured in corruption so have been the fruits which
you have gathered."
Quoting again from Walter Henry Cook in regard to Recon
struction graft:
' ' Governor Warmouth of Louisiana accumulated one and
a half million in four years on a salary of $8,000 a year.
Governor Moses of South Carolina acknowledged that he
had accepted $65,000 in bribes. Governor Clayton of
Arkansas said he intended to people the State with negroes.
The carpetbag government of Florida stole meat and flour
given for helpless women and children. In North Caro
lina and Alabama negro convicts were made justices of the
peace, men who were unable to read or write. In the South
Carolina Legislature 94 black men were members. The
Speaker of the House, the Clerk of the House, the door
keeper, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee,
and the Chaplain, were all black men and some of them
could neither read nor write."
The next is an extract from The Chicago Chronicle, written by
a Northern man:
"The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution grew
out of a spirit of revenge, for the purpose of punishing the
Southern people. It became a part of the Constitution by
fraud and force to secure the results of war. The war was
not fought to secure negro suffrage.
90 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
1 ' The history of the world may be searched in vain for a
parallel to the spirit of savagery which it inflicted upon a
defeated and impoverished people, the unspeakable bar
barous rule of a servile race just liberated from bondage.
Negro suffrage was a crime against the white people of the
South. It was a crime against the blacks of the South. It
was a crime against the whole citizenship of the Republic.
Political power was never conferred upon a race so poorly
equipped to receive it."
Now a last quotation from Charles Francis Adams, the grand
son of John Quincy Adams :
"I have ever been one of those who have thought ex
tremely severe measures were dealt the Southern people
after the Civil War, measures of unprecedented severity.
The Southern community was not only desolated during the
war but $3,000,000,000 of property confiscated after the
war. I am not aware that history records a similar act
super-added to the destruction and desolation of war."
Again :
"Their manumitted slaves belonging to an inferior and
alien race, were enfranchised and put in control of the
whole administration. Is there a similar case recorded in
history? If so I have never heard of it. It was simply a
case of insane procedure, and naturally resulted in dis
aster. We stabbed the South to the quick, and during all
the years of Reconstruction turned the dagger round and
round in the festering wound. If the South had been per
mitted to secede, slavery would have died a natural death."
The United States government is the only government that
ever freed her slaves without giving just compensation for them.
Dr. Wyeth in his "With Sabre and Scalpel/' published by
Harper & Brothers, New York, says :
"Nione but those who went through this period have any
conception of it. Defeat on battlefield brought no dishonor,
but all manner of oppressions, with poverty and enforced
domination of a race lately in slavery brought humiliation
and required a courage little less than superhuman."
ABRAHAM LINCOLN advocated paying the South for her slaves:
"The slaves taken from the South by arms should be
paid for."
Lincoln was right. God has never allowed a nation to pros
per where a known wrong is kept unrighted.
"Secret Political Societies in the South During the Period of
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 91
Reconstruction/' Walter Henry Cook; Western Reserve Uni
versity, Cleveland, Ohio:
"The Ku Klux accomplished much. From a poliitcal
viewpoint it secured home rule for several of the Southern
States; it ended the disgraceful rule of the carpetbaggers
therein; -and it helped to re-establish honest and efficient
governmental institutions. This example was an inspira
tion which after 1872 soon led the men of the Southern
States still in Radical control to a glorious victory in re
gaining self-government. From an economic standpoint,
the negroes had been frightened into going to work, and
were prevented, to a large extent, from breaking labor con
tracts. These were important services in the rehabilitation
of the South. From a social standpoint the Klan had pro
tected property, had protected life, and had brought order
out of chaos. "
MRS. ROSE'S "History of the Ku Klux Klan," Historian-Gen
eral, U. D. C. :
• "The Ku Klux were opposed to the shedding of human
blood, and violence was 'never used except as a last resort.
Repeated warnings were given to offenders, and it was only
when they were not heeded that the Ku Klux resorted to
extreme measures.
"The methods of the Ku Klux Klan were generally peace
ful and without destruction of life and property, and
when its objects had been accomplished there was no per-
. secution, nor pillaging, nor hounding of any one — and
when tranquility was restored to the land, the Ku Klux
folded their tents like the Arabs, and as silently stole away."
XVI.
Race Prejudice Is Stronger in the North Than in the South.
Before the Sixties, lynchings of negroes in the South were
of very rare occurrence — there was no occasion for it — we had
no incendiary literature distributed among the negroes until
John Brown tried it and failed. The incendiary literature is
now largely responsible for present day conditions.
The South is the negro's friend. The South wants the negro
to stay in the South. The South has not encouraged immigra
tion from the Latin States for fear of race antagonism. All
that the South asks is to be let alone in her management of the
negro, so that the friendly relations may continue.
92 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
The Southern people encourage the negroes to buy land and
have their own homes. The climate of the South suits the negro
best — the South is his logical home.
The South claims that race prejudice has been, and now is,
far greater in the North than in the South.
In his "Democracy in America," De Tocqueville, the French
writer, says:
"Though the electoral franchise has been conferred on
the negroes in all the free States, if they come forward to
vote their lives are in danger. Negroes may serve by law on
juries but prejudice repels them from office. They have
separate schools, separate hospital wards, and separate gal
leries in the theatres. In the South it is quite different
with the negro. Undoubtedly, the prejudice of the race
appears to be stronger in the States that have abolished
slaves than in the States where slavery still exists.
"White carpenters, white bricklayers and white painters
will not work side by side with the blacks in the North but
do it in almost every Southern State unless Northern men
among their workmen oppose it. But in the South white
men do not sit down to eat with black men as they do in
many parts of the North. "
Negroes left their homes in Alabama to work in Illinois, but
many were killed and others driven from the State. Were the
murderers of those negroes ever brought to trial?
One Republican said :
"If any more negroes come to Illinois, I will meet them
on the border with gatling-guns ! ' '
MR. SEWARD, March 3, 1858, said :
"The white man needs this continent to labor in and
must have it. ' '
The Legislature of Kansas, the home of John Brown, said :
"This State is for whites only."
In 1850, 1855 and 1865, Michigan refused suffrage to free
negroes.
In 1864 no negro could vote in Nevada.
"In Illinois (Lincoln's State) no negro nor mulatto was
allowed to remain in the State ten days.
"If a negro came into the State he was to be sold at auc
tion."
In twenty-seven counties of Indiana no negro was allowed to
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 93
live. If any white man encouraged him to come to the State
he was fined.
In Boston the negroes are segregated.
In Ohio the negroes were warned if they did not segregate
some dire calamity would befall them.
In New York *City and Washington City this question of
segregation is of serious import today and under constant dis
cussion.
No negro can live in Oregon.
MUZZEY'S "American History":
"Ohio, in 1867, at the very time that Congress was forc
ing negro suffrage on the South, rejected by 50,000 votes
to give the ballot to the few negroes in that State."
LUNT'S "Origin of the Late War":
"The negroes were perfectly happy in their condition of
slavery in the South — they were not only happy but proud
of it. They labored it is true for their daily bread, but
they were nursed in sickness, and cared for in old age.
Upon certain conditions they could obtain freedom. Free
dom was frequently granted for faithful services."
The South never understood why the abolitionists made a
bitter fight against slavery under humane .Christian masters in
the South and no fight at all against the slave trade in the
North. If cruelty to Africans was really their object in fight
ing slavery, the slave ships where they were huddled together
standing during the long voyage offered the best objects of
attack.
As to the condition of the slaves in the South under the in
stitution of slavery, Major-General Quitman, of New York, an
army officer who was stationed near a Mississippi plantation be
fore the war, says in a letter to his father :
'"Every night she has family prayers with her slaves.
When a minister comes, which is very frequently, prayers
are said night and morning, and chairs are always provid
ed for the servants.
"They are married by a clergyman of their own color,
and a sumptuous supper is always prepared. They are a
happy, careless, unreflecting, good-natured race — who left
to themselves would degenerate into drones or brutes. They
have great family pride and are the most arrant aristo
crats in the world." ("The Secession War in America,"
by J. P. Shaffull, published in New York, 1862).
94 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
"Are the white slaves today — those in the industrial
bondage — as well cared for as were the black slaves before
the civil war? Is the industrial slave as well fed, as well
clothed, as well housed as these slaves were by their mas
ters?
"Are the industrial slaves that work in the mills and
mines and sweat shops of today as well cared for as were
the slaves of the 'South that worked in the fields?" (Cop
ied from an editorial in Pittsburg (Pa.) Daily).
It was suggested that the negroes be put into the Confederate
army with a promise of freedom when the war ended. The
North felt assured that the negroes would never fight for the
South.
Dr. Hancock, in the Richmond Hospital, put them to the
test. Out of seventy-two approached on the subject sixty said:
"Yes, they would gladly go to protect their master's
families and would fight the enemy to the bitter end. "
("War of Rebellion" Series IV., Vol. II., p. 1193).
"Boston Herald/' September 12, 1919:
"Feeling against "William Lloyd Garrison and other
abolitionists ran high in this city in 1851, but it was in
New York that the home of a prominent citizen was sacked,
it was in Philadelphia that a public hall was burned by a
mob in the presence of the mayor and the police.
"Harrison Gray Otis, in Faneuil Hall, denounced the
English anti-slavery orator, George Thompson, as hired by
British gold to destroy the Union.
"At a gathering in the building that housed 'The Lib
erator,' a mob caught Garrison, tied a rope about his neck
to drag him through the streets.
"A body of colored men at another time took Shadrack,
the colored waiter at the Coffee House from the officers
of the law, and sent him away to Canada.
"When Thomas Sims was sent back to slavery the Court
House was surrounded with breast-high chains by the Unit
ed States Marshal, so that the judges, and all others hav
ing business in the building were obliged to stoop in order
to reach the doors, and that day seems mild to the mobs in
Boston today."
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 95
XVII.
The South Was More Interested in the Freedom of the Slaves
Than the North.
In 1816, "The African Colonization Society" was organized
with James Madison, a slaveholder, as president. Thomas Jef
ferson, a slaveholder, testifies that slaveholders were planning to
free their slaves.
When James Monroe became President he secured a tract of
land about the size of Mississippi on the West coast of Africa,
named Liberia, and its capital was called Monrovia to honor
him, and to this the slaves as freed were to be sent. In 1847 it
became a Republic with only negroes as officers. Then it was
protected from many encroachments of European monarchies
by the Monroe Doctrine. It was Southern statesmen and slave
holders who were most interested in this, although Northern
philanthropists greatly aided by moral and material support.
Charles Francis Adams, Jr., the historian, realized this and
said :
"Had the South been allowed to manage this question
unfettered the slaves would have been — ere this — fully
emancipated and that without bloodshed or race problems. "
Again, the fact stands that Thomas Jefferson, a large slave
holder, when Virginia ceded her Northwest Territory, made it a
condition that slavery should not be allowed in it, and no one
from the South objected.
A committee of five Virginians — Jefferson, Pendleton, Wythe,
Mason and Thomas Lee — was appointed to revise the laws and
prepare all slaveholders in the State for the gradual emanci
pation of their slaves. This law said:
"All children born after the passage of the Act should be
free, but must remain with their mothers until old enough
to be self-supporting."
Thirty-two times Virginia legislated against slavery.
Thomas Jefferson urged that all slaveholders free their slaves
by gradual emancipation as soon as possible, for by the Mis
souri Compromise, where a State's right was interfered with by
other States, he saw plainly that the day might come when sud
den emancipation would take place, and he said "human nature
shudders at the prospect of it," but he thanked God he would
not be alive to see it.
96 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
George Washington urged the gradual emancipation of his
slaves and freed them, by his will, and told Thomas Jefferson he
wished all slaves could be freed.
George Mason believed in emancipation of his slaves and
freed them.
John Randolph, of Roanoke, freed his slaves and bought ter
ritory in Ohio to place them.
Henry Clay urged the gradual emancipation of the slaves.
General Lee and his mother believed in gradual emancipation,
and practiced it and so did many slaveholders at the South.
Hundreds of thousands of slaves had been freed in the South
before 1820.
CONGRESSIONAL RECORDS:
* ' Jefferson Davis when in the United States Senate, urged
that a plan be made for emancipation that would be best
for the slaveholders and the slave. This was why South
ern men were so insistent about securing more slave terri
tory to relieve the congested condition of the slave States
that they might prepare the slaves as freed for their future
government. ' '
ABRAHAM LINCOLN said:
* * Gradual emancipation was the best plan, and the North
should not criticize too severely the Southern brethren for
tardiness in this matter."
"The Abolition Crusade which began at the time of the
Missouri Compromise in 1820, and which reached an in
tense pitch in 1839, caused Southern men to withdraw mem
bership in abolition societies."
The gouth claims Northern slaveholders were more anxious
to hold their slaves than were the slaveholders of the South.
"In 1860 there were only 3,950,531 slaves in the South
and many wills had been written freeing them by gradual
emancipation. Many of the slaves in the South before the
war belonged to Northern slaveholders. Girard, of Phila
delphia, worked his slaves on a large sugar plantation in
Louisiana. It was from the profits of this plantation Girard
College was built. Hemmingway, of Boston, had his slaves
on a plantation — not in the Southern States, Ibut in Cuba
— and his will left them to his daughter as late as 1870."
RICHARDSON'S "Defense of the South," p. 20:
:i Thomas Elkins, of Effingham County, Georgia, before
1860, offered to free his slaves and send them back to
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 97
Africa at his own expense and the slaves begged to let them
remain with him. Among these slaves were the sons of
African kings and princes."
jJJUNDY's "Universal Emancipation'':
"There were before the Missouri Compromise, 1820,
106 anti-slavery societies — with 5,150 members in the South
and 24 abolition societies in the North with only 920 mem
bers."
In 1831, Virginia wanted a bill passed for gradual emanci
pation of the slaves and it was lost by one vote — that of the
chairman. Virginia made 23 attempts to legislate about freeing
the slaves and abolishing the slave trade. When 61 women and
children were murdered by Nat Turner's insurrection at South-
hampton, Va., the abolition societies in the South disbanded.
The only colony to forbid slaves was Georgia.
The first State to legislate against the slave trade was Georgia.
The first bill to allow a slaveholder to free 'his slaves was of
fered by Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia.
Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia, urged in the Declaration of
Independence that the slave trade be forbidden. John Adams,
of Massachusetts, urged that clause be omitted.
The only State that made it a felony to buy a slave was Vir
ginia.
Thomas Jefferson insisted that Ohio; Illinois, Indiana, Mich
igan, and Wisconsin should not be slave states — and yet Vir
ginia, a slave State, gave this territory.
A committee was appointed to draw up these resolutions to
present to the Massachusetts Legislature when sectional feel
ing was at its height. They calmly and deliberately weighed
the arguments on the side of slaveholders, and then as calmly
and deliberately weighed those on the side of the abolitionists.
Then they came to a conclusion — they said :
"Nothing which is not founded upon the eternal princi
ples of truth and justice can ever long prevail against an
irresistible force of public disapprobation. Your commit
tee feel that the conduct of the abolitionists is not only
wrong in policy but erroneous in morals.
"Your committee are determined to fulfill their duty to
the State and to our common country in the most firm and
faithful manner. In remembering that while they are men
of Massachusetts, they are incapable of meanly forgetting
that they also are Americans." (George Lunt, Chairman).
98 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
In "The Sectional Controversy," (published in 1864 when
the author, W. C. Fowler, was a member of the Connecticut
Legislature) the author says that fifteen or twenty years earlier,
when a prominent member of Congress who afterward became a
member of a Presidential Cabinet was coming out from a heated
sectional debate, lie was asked by the writer, an old college
friend :
"Will you tell me what is the real reason why Northern
men encourage those petitions (for the abolition of slav
ery) f"
The reply was:
1 i The real reason is that the South will not let us have a'
tariff, and we touch them where they will feel it."
In this same work Mr. Fowler repeats a statement made in
1859 by Salmon P. Chase, a native of. New England, who was
then the Governor of Ohio, and after serving in Lincoln's Cab
inet was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Talk
ing to W. D. Chadwick Glover, he said :
"I do not wish to have the slave emancipated because I
love him, but because I hate his master."
"When John Brown came into Virginia to 'free the slaves
by the authority of God Almighty,' Governor John A. An
drews, of Massachusetts, was one of his chief supporters, the
hope of the Massachusetts abolitionists being that the ap
pearance of Brown and his little band would excite the
slaves to rise up and murder the white people. But in Sep
tember, 1862, when General Dix proposed to remove a num
ber of escaped slaves from Fortress Monroe to Massachus
etts, this Governor objected, saying: 'I do not concur in any
way or to any degree to the plan proposed. Permit me to
say that the Northern States are of all places the worst pos
sible to select for an asylum for negroes. ' '
In Rice's "Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln," General Don
Piatt who canvassed a part of Illinois for Mr. Lincoln in 1860
and spent some time in the company of the President-elect, says :
"He knew and saw clearly that the free States had not
only no sympathy with the abolition of slavery but held
fanatics, as abolitionists were called, in utter abhorrence. "
And in another place he says:
"Descended from the poor whites of a slave State through
many generations, Lincoln inherited the contempt, if not
the hatred, held by that class for the negro And he
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 99
couid no more feel a sympathy for that wretched race than
he could for the horse he worked or the hog he killed. ' '
And to all this it is interesting to add the views of John Sher
man, the brother of the famous William Tecumseh. On April
2, 1862, he said in the Senate :
"We do not like the negroes. We do not disguise our
dislike. As my friend from Indiana (Mr. Wright) said
yesterday: 'The whole people of the Northwestern States
are opposed to having many negroes among them and that
principle or prejudice has been engraved in the legislation
fo nearly all of the Northwestern States.' '
And let it not be forgotten that the Northwestern States at
that time were inhabited mainly by people who had emigrated,
or those whose ancestors had emigrated, from Northern States,
most of them perhaps from New England.
It may be difficult, therefore, for honest seekers after truth
to understand what Northern writers mean by "the moral
awakening of the North" and the "dictatorial policy of the
South."
Slavery would not have continued in the South had the
Confederacy succeeded. The supremacy of the white man would
have been preserved and the distinction of the races main
tained.
Thomas Jefferson called the slave trade "Piratical warfare,
the opprobium of infidel powers," "a calamity of most alarming
nature."
The House of Burgesses in Virginia resolved to purchase no
slaves that had not been in the country twelve months, under
a penalty of $5,000 to the one who sold a slave and $2,500 for
the buyer of a slave. This was to discourage the slave trade.
Did Massachusetts and other New England or Eastern States
free their slaves or sell them?
The chief cause of race riots today is the incendiary news
papers published by the negroes in Chicago, New York, Omaha,
Washington City and other places. Suppress these newspapers
and arrest the editors and race riots will cease. The South
knows the negro better than the North and better than the
negro, born free, and raised in the North.
When such abuse comes from the North about lynching and
crimes in the South, is it not radically unfair to bring the
charges upon violation of mob law in Georgia — and I am not
100 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
defending mob law, I think it awful wherever found — when
they never seem to realize that the home of mob law was in New
England and other Northern States?
Was not Garrison dragged by a mob in the streets of Boston?
Did not New Englanders mob officers of the National govern
ment for trying to enforce the law? This was never heard of
in the South.
Was not Lovejoy put to death by a mob in Illinois?
Did not the New Yorkers massacre men, women and children
and burn nineteen negroes?
Was not Philadelphia the home of mobs at one time?
The Fugitive Slave Law was nullified when in 1851 a negro,
Shadrack, was rescued from a United States Marshal by a mob
in Boston, consisting of some of the very best citizens.
Did not a mob burn an orphanage in Philadelphia and kill
women and children?
Was not a negro chained and burned at Wilmington, Dela
ware?
Was not a negro hanged by a mob before the court-house
door at Urbana, Ohio?
Did not a mob with dynamite bombs defy the police in Chi
cago and not one offender brought to justice? This never hap
pened in the South.
Will those newspapers so unjust to Georgia, and to the South
as a whole, look into those mobs at Akron and Springfield,
Ohio; Danville and Springfield, Illinois; Evansville and Rock-
port, Indiana ; and Coatsville, Pennsylvania, and in States much
nearer to them than Georgia? Will they not inquire into sta
tistics and truthfully find out, if they are honest enough to
admit it, that there have been more mobs proportionately to
negro population in the North than in the South?
Freedom of Slaves.
GEORGE LUNT :
"We have taken counsel of our fears and have imposed
upon ourselves another burden, likely to prove intolerable
in the end by the enforced discharge from restraint 3,000,-
000 or 4,000,000 helpless, irresponsible creatures, hitherto
entirely dependent upon others and incapable by nature, of
the independent action demanded by a civilized community.
"If, then, we should now complete this notable work by
conferring upon these negroes a nominal equality, and ask
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 101
them to enter upon the exercise of privileges and powers to
which they are and must remain forever incompetent, we
shall show ourselves also most unworthy and incapable of
self-government of the understanding, and not of passion
or sentiment. "
GEORGE LUNT :
"However general was the dislike of slavery in the free
States, yet the abolitionists proper had only here and there
a local society consisting of a handful of zealous, but wrong-
headed men and women of the class more recently known
as strong-minded. They met in obscure apartments, and
attracted scarcely any public attention; or if brought to
notice by accident, were the objects of only popular ridi
cule and contempt. The general public mind was entirely
settled in regard to the uselessness, as well as the unlaw
fulness of interference with slavery in the States, hence no
mode of action was left to the abolitionists, except by oc
casional memorials to Congress upon indirect points af
fecting the question, or through their few unregarded pub
lications which were read by nobody but themselves."
GEORGE LUNT, Appendix, p. 31 :
"Later, Mr. Garrison, a leader among the abolitionists,
was let down by a back window, and attempted to conceal
himself, but was hunted down by a mob, rescued from the
hands of officers of the law and placed in the common prison.
He said, 'Never before was a man so glad to get into a
jail.'"
GEORGE LUNT says (pp. 328, 330) :
"So intense was the feeling on the part of such abolition
ists as John Brown, that one of them actually presented
in the House of Representatives a plan 'to teach the slaves
to burn their masters' buildings, to kill all of their cattle,
and hogs, and to conceal all farming utensils and abandon
labor in seedtime and harvest so that all crops should per
ish, ' and he goes on to say, ' such open and armed aggression
on the part of John Brown betokened predetermined en
mity in one part of the Union against another part; an
overt act of hostility towards the government, in the peace
of which only could the Union stand secure, and it was un
doubtedly the signal and forerunner of war.' '
The picture of John Brown on the way to execution, now
hanging on the walls of the Metropolitan Art Gallery in New
York, representing a negro woman holding her baby to be kiss
ed by him is false to history. The physician attending him tes-
102 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
tified there was not a negro to be seen on the streets of Harper's
Ferry that day.
BARNES' "Popular History/' p. 478:
"On the way to the gallows, he stopped to kiss a little
slave child."
The John Brown Raid and his attempt to rouse the negroes of
the South to murder, insurrection and arson was punished by
the death of John Brown and his accomplices by the State of
Virginia and Congress said not a word, and the testimony of
sane men at the North condemned the fanaticism of the insane.
The South felt that the North was encouraging an interference
with their slave affairs.
EDWARD EVERETT, in Fanueil Hall, said:
"John Brown's Raid was designed to let loose the hell
hounds of a servile insurrection, and to bring on a struggle
which for magnitude, atrocity and horror, would have stood
alone in the history of the world."
JUDGE BLACK, of Pennsylvania, said:
"The abolitionists applauded John Brown to the echo
for a series of the basest murders on record."
The South never could understand how Emerson should say
of one they regarded 'as a horse thief, a murderer, an advocate
of insurrection, that his body was "as glorious as the Cross of
Christ."
ALBERT BUSHNELL HART:
"His courage impressed even his jailers; and the aboli
tionists and many others saw something heroic in a man
thus risking his life for the lowly. ' '
Call Brown An Assassin.
Kansas Legislators Bitterly Assailed Osawatomie Man.
"Topeka, March 4. — J. W. Brown, representative from
Butler County, set the Kansas House by the ears today by
an attack on John Brown, when the bill appropriating
$2,800 to preserve the John Brown cabin at Osawatomie
and keep up the park surrounding it came up for passage.
"The bill was passed by the Senate several days ago and
was up for final passage in the House. The bill was passed
by a good vote, the Democrats generally voting against it.
When Brown, who is a Democrat, was called, he voted
'no' and offered the following explanation of his vote:
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 103
" 'If John Brown had consummated his insurrection
started at Harper's Ferry I probably would have died in
my youth. John Brown was never in a proper sense a res
ident of Kansas, nor was he 'Osawatomie Brown.' That
appellation in early years having been applied to 0. C.
Brown, who founded the town of Osawatomie and gave it
its name. He never engaged in any legitimate business or
employment while here, nor did he aid any way in the im
provement or development of the country. With the in
stincts of an anarchist and the hand of an assassin, his ca
reer in Kansas was one of lawlessness and crime — the one
indelible blot on the otherwise fair free State record. No
Kansan desires to appropriate money to perpetuate the
name of a Booth, -a Guiteau or a Czolgosz. Neither will I
consent to exalt the name of the first anarchist and rebel
this country produced.' :
J. J. Veath, of Washington County, a Republican, also took
a slap at the Kansas hero. He voted against the bill and offered
the following explanation of his vote :
"I am a Republican and I was a soldier for four years
in the Union Army. I admire a brave man who with sword
in hand will lead his men through shot and shell to the
cannon's mouth but I despise a sneak and a bushwhacker.
"John Brown allowed his men to sharpen their swords
and kill five unarmed men by cutting them to pieces in the
presence of their wives and children, and therefore he was
guilty of murder.
"I will not by my vote appropriate a single dollar to
honor the memory of a man whom I believe a murderer.
I therefore vote 'no.' :
As soon as the roll call was completed, Davis of Kiowa, moved
that the attacks be expunged from the record, but the motion
failed and the attacks stand.
(See also John Brown, of Qssawatomie, by Hill Peebles Wil
son, edition of 1913).
104 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
WHY THE SOUTH DEMANDS CORRECTED TEXT
BOOKS:
FIRST :
Because history as now written will condemn the South
to infamy.
SECOND :
Because the reference* books now in the public libraries
will condemn the South to infamy.
THIRD:
As long as these falsehoods remain within reach of the
student all teaching to the contrary will be in vain.
FOURTH :
Because the omissions now in history do the South greater
injustice than the commissions of history. (See pp. 112,
113).
THE SOUTH AS REPRESENTED IN HISTORY AND
LITERATURE TODAY.
DAVIDSON'S History says:
"The Jamestown Colonists were vicious idlers and jail
birds picked up on the streets of London.
1 ' Side by side the two civilizations had grown up in Amer
ica — the one dedicated to progress had kept up with the
spirit of the age — the other a landed aristocracy with
slavery as the chief excuse for its existence. "
MONTGOMERY'S History says:
"Georgia was settled by filthy, ragged, dirty prisoners
taken from the "Debtors Prison" by Oglethorpe."
THE BRITISH ENCYCLOPEDIA says:
"North Carolina was a refuge for the lawless and ad
venturous. ' '
' ' The immigration to Virginia consisted of boys and girls
seized in the streets of London and shipped as felons. "
New Twentieth Century Edition of ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITAN-
NICA, page 360, American Literature:
"Like the Spartan marshaling his helots, the Southern
planter lounging among his slaves was made dead to art by
a paralyzing sense known as his own superiority."
"In the world of letters, at least, the Southern States
shone by reflected light."
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 105
''Since the Revolution the few thinkers born South of
Mason and Dixon line — outnumbered by those belonging
to the single State of Massachusetts — have migrated to New
York or Boston for a university training."
1 1 If the negroes were good for food, the probability is that
the power of destroying their lives would be enjoyed by
their Southern owners as fully as it is over the lives of
their cattle.
1 ' Negroes are looked on only as brutes ! They are fed or
kept hungry ; clothed or kept naked, beaten and turned out
to the fury of the elements, with as little remorse as if they
were beasts of the field." — Pelham Papers.
LODGE'S "History of the Early Colonies":
' l The life of the Southern women was very monotonous —
they had few advantages, and were unequal to any refined
conversation. They were fond of dancing but showed great
want of taste or elegance and seldom appeared with grace. -
At the close of the evening it was their custom to dance
jigs which custom they borrowed from the negroes."
"Family Life in Virginia/' p. 344:
"A girl of good fortune or of good reputation is a thing
scarce in these parts — for they have no established laws and
very little of the Gospel. ' '
HENRY CABOT LODGE'S "History of the Early Colonies/' p. 154:
"The negroes in South Carolina were helplessly degrad
ed, rarely baptized or married, lived like animals, their
condition of complete barbarism — the slaves were griev
ously overworked."
HENRY CABOT LODGE'S "History of the Early Colonies'':
"The Southern man on his plantation drinks a julep
made of rum, water and sugar, very strong; rides over his
plantation, returns and takes his toddy, lies down to sleep
with two negroes to fan him, one at his head and one at
his feet; rises for dinner, takes his toddy again and con
tinues to take his toddy all afternoon, then eats his supper
and retires for the night."
RICHARD HILDRETH:
"The typical Southern planter is a tall, raw-boned in
dividual, clad in a black frock coat, with his trousers
tucked into high-top boots. On his head is a wide brim
med slouch hat, and his heels are adorned with large row-
elled spurs. He wears a turn-down collar and a flowing
black tie. His hair is long and his beard is worn as a
goatee. He carries a whip in his right hand and is accom-
106 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
panied by a dog supposed to be fresh from the chase of a
runaway slave. "
Read in striking contrast Bill Arp 's description of a Southern
gentleman, and Thomas Nelson Page's "The Gentleman of the
Black Stock."
"Smart Set/' New York, February, 1920:
"The Southern people know nothing of music or the
drama, and view a public library merely as something to
be vigorously censored. Lynching is the only public
amusement that they never denounce."
MEANS OF ENFORCING THE MASTER'S EMPIRE.
HILDRETH'S "Despotism in America," p. 41:
The slave late in coming from the field — receives twenty
lashes.
"The slave that is idle — thirty lashes.
"The slave that disobeys — forty lashes.
"The slave that destroys property — fifty lashes.
"The slave that lies — sixty lashes.
"The slave that is suspected of theft — seventy lashes.
"The slave that is insolent — eighty lashes.
"The slave that is insubordinate — one hundred lashes.
"If he ventures to run away he is pursued by men and
dogs, disabled by small shot, and as soon as he is caught, he
is flogged till he faints, then worked in chains, locked up
every night, and kept on half allowance, till his spirits are
broken, and he becomes contented and obedient. Should
he offer resistance he is either shot , stabbed, beat to the
ground with a club, and if not killed he is subjected to all
sorts of discipline and flogged every night for thirty days
in succession. This is a specimen of discipline in planta
tion management. ' '
This book from which these extracts are taken is in one of
the leading libraries in the State of Georgia. The effect it has
had, possibly, on many of Georgia's boys is to make them rank
abolitionists ?
RICHARD HILDRETH, "Despotism in America," p. 45:
"The Bible has been proscribed at the South, as an in
cendiary publication; a book not fit for slaves to read or
hear. In some parts of the country the catechism is looked
upon with almost equal suspicion ; and many masters for
bid their slaves to hear any preacher, black or white, since
they consider religion upon the plantation as quite out of
place, a thing dangerous to the master's authority, and
therefore not to be endured in the slave."
THE TRUTHS OP HISTORY 107
RICHARD HILDRETH, "Despotism in America/' p. 71:
''The slaves are regarded not merely as animals, but as
animals of the wildest and most ferocious character. They
are thought to be like tigers, trained to draw the plough,
whom nothing but fear, the whip, and constant watchful
ness, keep at all in subjection, and who if left to themselves
would quickly recover their savage natures, and find no en
joyment except to reek in blood."
LODGE'S "History of ike Early Colonies":
"The strength of Virginia really resided in the Puritan
blood which was in their midst.
' ' For a century Virginia lay in a state of torpor.
"Aversion to towns was very great, but due to indolence,
jealousy, and selfishness.
"Neither arts nor letters nourished. Every man taught
his own children according to his ability.
"Intellectual amusements were wanting in Maryland.
Education had never been an object of interest.
"The slaves of the South were not allowed to have a dog.
They were coarsely clothed and fed upon meal and water
sweetened with molasses and even punished with barbarity. ' '
"The planters looked upon themselves as different clay
from the rest of the community; they had the virtues and
vices of an aristocracy. They were neither enterprising
nor inventive."
In history the slaveholder of the South has been so maligned
because he separated the mother and child on the block. This
contrast is striking.
Taken from the Massachusetts Historical Collections, Vol.
IV., p. 200, is an advertisement that appeared in The Continen
tal Journal, Boston, Mass., March 1, 1781 :
"4^ likely negro wench 19 years old with a child six
months of age to be sold together or apart."
Then a notice that appeared in a newspaper in New Orleans
at a later date:
"The Cyclopedia of Political Slavery/' Vol. III., p. 733:
"Mr. Hunter was fined $1,000 for separating a mother
and child, and compelled to forfeit by the Louisiana law
six of his slaves."
LODGE'S History:
" If a Bible should be left in a negro cabin, the colporteur
would be ushered to Heaven from the lowest limb of a tree
on the nearest hill."
108 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
"Unless the white race amalgamate with the black, the
white will wither from the face of the earth."
When war was threatened in 1861 it was said :
"There can be no war for the cowards of the South
would run at the sight of brave soldiers from New Eng
land/'
An Ohio Suffragist said:
"In the cotton mills of Georgia they work little children
from four years up, sending them to and from the mills
by rail in an old box car huddled like so many pigs. "When
the cotton season is over, they are taken to New Jersey and
worked in the cranberry fields."
"The Evening Sun," Baltimore, Md., Nov. 17, 1919:
"No really first rate woman or man, in any field of en
deavor lives in Georgia or has ever lived there. The State
has never produced a statesman, a politician, a philosopher,
a writer, an artist, or any one who has ever achieved fame.
No .civilized men and women anywhere; the State is ut
terly without value."
LOSSING'S "History Concerning Robert E. Lee," Vol. V., Chap.
116, p. 1483:
"The Confederates gained much strength by the defec
tion of Colonel Robert E. Lee of the National Army, who
espoused their cause. He lingered in Washington City for
a week after the evacuation of Fort Sumter; and when he
had drawn from General Scott (who had the most implicit
confidence in Lee's honor) all information possible con
cerning the plans, and resources of the government to be
employed in suppressing the rebellion, he resigned his com
mission (April 20, 1861), deserted his flag, went to Rich
mond, was appointed commander-in-chief of the military
forces of Virginia and made war upon the government he
had solemnly sworn to support and defend. He gave to
its enemies the advantages of his knowledge of the govern
ment secrets, and his skill as an engineer. He had kept up
a correspondence with those enemies while professing to be
loyal to his government; and when that enemy offered him
an exalted position, he joined them and worked faithfully
for them."
"The Official History of Suffrage" says:
"General Lee drove his daughter, Anne Carter, from
Arlington as an outcast, because she remained true to the
Union. Anne died the third year of the war homeless, with
no relative near, dependent for care and nursing and con-
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 109
solation in her last hours upon the kindly services of an old
colored woman."
"The speech of John Brown at Charlestown and the
speech of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg are the two best
specimens of eloquence which we have had in this country. ' '
"Boys of '61," Coffin, p. 446:
"That secession was inaugurated without cause must
ever be the verdict of history. "
"I called upon some of my female friends. I knew they
were secessionists, but did not think they were so utterly
corrupt as I find them to be." (p. 29).
"The slaves were the true, loyal men of the South. They
did what they could to put down the Rebellion." (p. 518).
"Mason, the lordly senator, and Governor Letcher, the
drunken executive of the State (Virginia), addressed the
crowd fired to a burning heat of madness by passion and
whiskey." (p. 520).
"Twelve thousand, nine hundred and ninety graves are
numbered on the neighboring hillside, murdered by Jeff
Davis, Robert E. Lee, James Seddon, John C. Brecken-
ridge — murdered with premeditated design." (p. 411).
In J. G. HOLLAND'S "Life of Abraham Lincoln/' is found on
page 293 :
"The rebellion was conceived in perjury, brought forth
in violence, cradled in ignorance, and reared upon spoils.
It never had an apology for its existence that will be enter
tained for a moment at the bar of history. It was never
anything from its birth to its death but a crime— a crime
against Christianity, a crime against patriotism, a crime
against civilization, a crime against progress, a crime against
personal and political honor, a crime against the people of
the North who had to put it down, a crime against God to
whom they blasphemously appealed for aid. ' '
J. G. HOLLAND again says :
"The South was prepared for war — nearly all Southern
forts had been seized. The Northern arsenals had been rob
bed by that miscreant, Ployd. The South refused to pay
the debts due the North. The mails were ransacked so that
the government could reach neither friends nor foes. She
had been drilling men and instructing officers for years.
They knew there were not arms enough in the North to over
come them. Maryland, a slaveholding State, had one out
of five for rebellion."
"The British Weekly'':
"In the American Civil War the Southern Confederate
110 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
women wore personal ornaments made of the bones of their
unburied foes. They starved their prisoners and took their
scalps for trophies. ' '
James Russell Lowell was given as authority for this state
ment.
MR. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL also said :
"I do not find that the cuticular aristocracy of the South
has added anything to the requirements of civilization ex
cept the carrying of bowie knives and the chewing of to
bacco — a high-toned Southern gentleman being commonly
not only quad-rumanous but quid-ruminant. "
MUZZEY'S "History of the American People" says:
"The cause for which the Confederate soldier fought was
an unworthy cause and should have been defeated."
"It is impossible for the student of history today to feel
otherwise than that the cause for which the South fought
was unworthy."
"The Confederacy was now placed before the civilized
world in its true light as the champion of the detested in
stitution of slavery." — Davidson.
THE "Chicago Tribune" says:
The South is half educated, a region of illiteracy, blatant
self -righteousness, cruelty and violence."
CHAMPION'S "War of the Union/' p. 316 :
"A sort of poetic justice impelled the Federals to send
a brigade of colored troops to take possession of Richmond."
WILLIAM & MARY "Quarterly/' Oct. 1918, pp. 82, 83:
" * Necessity knows no law/ and 'to save the lives of the
gallant men who had so long held Fort Sumter against an
overwhelming force of heartless traitors and wicked and
unprincipled rebels whose treason has been steeped in fraud
and theft vulgarly known as f Southern Chivalry/ the Pres
ident of the United States (Abraham Lincoln) in the dis
charge of a duty to humanity has signed the order for the
evacuation of Fort Sumter."
The Librarian in Pueblo, Colorado, said that "The Clans
man/' by Thomas Dixon, was too indecent to be read, so ordered
all books by Dixon to be taken out of the Library and extra
copies of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" placed there.
"The New York World/' Dec. 1919:
"The next President will be a Republican, with a Re
publican House and Senate, and the Southern State* will
THB TRUTHS OF HISTORY 111
be mere provinces. Had it not been for Northern Demo
crats the Southern States would as yet be as conquered
provinces without influence at Washington."
XIX.
The Villification of Jefferson Davis Was Necessary to Make
the Glorification of Abraham Lincoln More Effective.
AUTHORITY:
"Harper's Weekly/' June, 1865:
"The murder of President Lincoln furnished the final
proof of the ghastly spirit of the rebellion. Davis inspired
the murder of Lincoln. ' '
CHENEY'S "History of the Civil War/' p. 359:
"Poor Jeff Davis began to feel like a wandering Jew — a
price was put on his head. He dared rest nowhere for fear
of meeting the fate of a traitor — afraid to risk an inter
view with Sherman and not daring to wait for Johnston's
surrender, he fled to Charlotte."
"New York Tribune/' 1861:
"The hanging of traitors is sure to begin before the
month is over. The nations of Europe may rest assured
that Jeff Davis will be swinging from the battlements of
"Washington at least by the Fourth of July. We spit upon
a later and longer deferred justice."
"The Story of a Great March/' Major George W. Nichols:
"The failure of Jeff Davis has brought down on him the
hatred and abuse of his own people. Were he here today
nothing but execration would have been showered uon him."
"Harper's Weekly/' June 17, 1865:
"Davis is as guilty of Lincoln's murder as Booth. Davis
was conspicuous for every extreme of ferocity, inhumanity
and malignity. He was responsible for untold and unim
aginable cruelties practiced on loyal citizens in the South."
THADDEUS STEVENS, House of Congress, March 19, 1867:
"While I would not be bloody-minded, yet if I had my
way I \vould long ago have organized a military tribunal
under military power and I would have put Jefferson Davis
and all the members of the Cabinet on trial for the mur
ders at Andersonville. Jefferson Davis murdered a
thousand men, robbed a thousand widows and orphans, and
burned down a thousand homes."
112 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
"Harper's Weekly":
"If it seems too incredible to be true that rebel leaders
were guilty of Lincoln's assassination, it must be remem
bered that Lincoln's murder is no more atrocious than
many crimes of which Davis is notoriously guilty."
JOHN FORNEY, Clerk of the Senate — Washington Chronicle:
"The judiciary has ample evidence of Davis' guilt of
Lincoln's murder, and of the murder of our soldiers in
prison. ' '
BOUTWELL, of Massachusetts, introduced the following resolu
tion in Congress:
"Be it Resolved, That Jefferson Davis shall be held and
tried on the charge of killing prisoners and murdering
Abraham Lincoln."
"Jefferson Davis wrote a history of the struggle but it
was full of prejudice."
CHENEY'S "History," p. 539:
"Davis had in his possession $100,000 in gold belonging
to the Confederate Government."
' ' He was arrested near Macon disguised as a woman, with
a shawl over his head and carrying a tin pail. ' '
XX.
Some of the Omissions of History.
"At the First Battle of Bull Eun raw, untrained Union
soldiers were defeated by well-trained Confederate soldiers.
Congress, however, and the President were only nerved by
this defeat to prepare for a bigger war."
What should have been there was what an eye witness — the
War Correspondent, Edmund Clarence Stedman — saw and put
in the columns of "The New York World":
"I was with the brave Captain Alexander when the sud
den reverse came. 'What does it all mean?' I asked.
" 'It means defeat,' was his reply. 'We are beaten. It
is a shameful, cowardly retreat.'
" 'Hold up, men!' he shouted. 'Don't be such cowards,'
but on they rushed.
"I saw officers with leaves and eagles on their shoulder
straps, majors and colonels who had deserted their com
mands, galloping as for dear life.
"What a scene! How terriffic the onset of that tumul-
tous retreat! Who ever saw such a flight? Who ever saw
a more shameful abandonment of munitions gathered at
THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY 113
such vast expense ? Thousands of muskets strewed the
route. The regular cavalry — I say it to their shame — join
ed in the melee -adding to its terrors — for they rode down
footmen without mercy. Enough supplies wrere captured
for a week's feast of thanksgiving. The rout of the Fed
eral Army was complete." — "Great Epochs of American
History/' Vol. VIII.
Another omission of hixlory is the description of the M< rri-
mac (Virginia) and the Monitor.
History records "an indecisive victory between the Monitor
and Virginia. The Virginia finally withdrew up the Elizabeth
River."
The following is the truth given by those on the Virginia and
corroborated by the testimony of the English and French men-
of-war anchored at Hampton Roads :
"It was April before the Merrimac (Virginia) had com
pleted some alterations, then she steamed down to Hampton
Roads under Commodore Tatnall to engage and capture the
Monitor. She was afraid to go too close to shallow water,
but three times she dared and challenged the Monitor to
come out and fight. Not even the capture of two brigs and
a schooner, the Thomas Jefferson and the hoisirig of the Con
federate flags on these captured ships, which must have
been a humiliation to her, would tempt the Monitor to
move. Had she taken the dare, she would undoubtedly
have been captured and she knew it."
OTHER OMISSIONS OF HISTORY:
The South claims that her best writers are ruled out of a com
pendium of American Literature and those not literary given
prominence.
LITERATURE :
Siedman's American Literature gives fifty pages to Walt
Whitman and five lines to Henry Timrod.
Richardson gives forty pages to Fenimore Cooper and four
pages to William Gilmore Simms, that pioneer of romance.
Pattee, in his American Lilcnifiirr, gives page after page to
E. P. Roe, and does not mention James Lane Allen.
Houghton, Mifflin & Co., in their Masterpieces of Literature,
give O'Reilly's prosaic poem, "Tlie Puritans." and does not
mention Poe's " Rarc-n."
To read Northern history one would believe that Paul Re-
114 THE TRUTHS OF HISTORY
vere's Ride was the greatest in American history. It does not
compare to John Jouett's ride nor Edward Lacy's ride, nor
Sam Dale's ride and surely not to Wade Hampton's grand
father's ride of 750 miles in ten days to carry the news of An
drew Jackson's victory at New Orleans. That was a ride of
great import in history for New England had already sent her
commissioner to say she would secede from the Union to join
England, but when she heard of the British defeat the papers
of secession were not presented.
LOAN DEPT
or
Renewed books are subject 1
immediate recall.
LD 2lA-50w-ll,
(D3279slO)476B
Syracuse, N. Y.
Stockton, Calif.
RETURN TO the circulation desk of any
University of California Library
or to the
NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY
Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station
University of California
Richmond, CA 94804-4698
ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS
• 2-month loans may be renewed by calling
(510)642-6753
• 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing
books to NRLF
• Renewals and recharges may be made
4 days prior to due date
DUE AS STAMPED BELOW
AUG 2 8 2004
DD20 15M 4-02
Live Music Archive
Librivox Free Audio
Metropolitan Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Internet Arcade
Console Living Room
Open Library
American Libraries
TV News
Understanding 9/11